President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday embarked on a six-day trip to Germany to attend the annual Group of 20 summit, hoping to reinforce the nation’s leverage in multinational diplomacy.

During his stay in Berlin and Hamburg, the president is set to attend a series of bilateral and regional summits with key partner states, including Japan, China and Russia, with one of his aims to build up defense against North Korea’s escalating military threats.

The South Korean leader left for Berlin at around 8 a.m. from Seoul Air Base, south of Seoul. He will arrive in the German capital at around 6:40 p.m. local time.

Before moving over to Hamburg for the main event, Moon is to spend the first two days in Berlin, where he will meet with his German counterparts.

His schedule will begin with lunch with South Korean nationals residing in Germany, including miners and nurses who moved to Germany in the late 20th century for jobs.

After meeting with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeiner and Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday, Moon is to fly to the port city of Hamburg, where he will stay until Sunday.

On the sidelines of the two-day summit running from Friday to Saturday, Moon will be holding bilateral and trilateral summits, including one with Japan, China, and Russia.

He is expected to focus on regional security, in response to another North Korean missile launch Tuesday, which the communist regime claimed was a successful test of an inter-continental ballistic missile.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)