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Trade/Investment
Korea's July exports record trade surplus for 2nd successive month
The Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced on August 1 that Korea’s exports in July declined 16.5 percent year-on-year to USD 50.3 billion and imports fell 25.4 percent to $48.7 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $1.6 billion. July exports were negatively impacted by the slowdown of the semiconductor industry, petrochemicals and petroleum products’ unit price falls from oil price falls, and the high base effect from last year’s date2023-08-01
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Trade/Investment
Korea and Africa discuss measures to expand economic cooperation
The Republic of Korea’s Minister for Trade Dukgeun Ahn met with African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat Secretary-General Wamkele Mene on July 26 during the latter’s visit to Seoul and discussed measures to expand Korea-Africa economic cooperation. Assessing the launching of AFCFTA as positive in that it strengthened the basis for intraregional trade, Trade Minister Ahn explained that the Korean government is pushing various trade agreements through the Economic Par date2023-07-28
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Trade/Investment
Korea announces plans to create KRW 8 trillion plus CVC fund by 2025
The Republic of Korea’s Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Lee Chang-yang and 42 domestic corporate venture capitals (CVC) met on July 24 at Lotte Hotel Seoul to launch a CVC alliance and unveiled plans for a joint public-private initiative to accumulate over KRW 8 trillion in a CVC fund by 2025. CVCs – venture capital funds where large and medium-sized corporations are the primary shareholders – are active forces of economic dynamism in countries like the U.S. More than 200 date2023-07-28
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Trade/Investment
Korea aims to attract global talent for advanced industries' competitiveness
The Republic of Korea’s Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Lee Chang-yang held the High-Tech Industries’ Global Talent Conference on July 26 where he met with highly skilled foreigners either taking their master's and doctorate programs in Korea or working in Korea’s advanced industry sectors like batteries and semiconductors, and gathered their experience and challenges. What these foreign workers and students share in common is that they made the decision to live in Korea t date2023-07-27
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Trade/Investment
Minister Lee attends CVC Alliance Launching Ceremony
Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Lee Chang-yang attended the Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) Alliance Launching Ceremony on July 24 at the Lotte Hotel Seoul, which was held to promote measures to invigorate CVC and form cooperative bodies within the industry for stronger collaboration. Minister Lee gave an opening message and attended the public-private joint CVC fund (1 & 2) inauguration ceremony. The event was attended by various representatives of large corporations, middle-market fi date2023-07-26
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Trade/Investment
Korea and Indonesia deepen partnership in batteries and EVs
The Republic of Korea's Trade, Industry and Energy Ministry’s Deputy Trade Minister Jeong Dae-jin led the Korean delegation in meeting with his counterpart Edi Prio Pambudi, the Deputy Minister for Coordination of International Economic Cooperation of Indonesia, on July 24 at the Lotte Hotel Seoul to hold the 2nd Korea-Indonesia Economic Cooperation Committee Meeting and discussed measures to bolster bilateral economic cooperation. In their opening messages, both delegation heads noted th date2023-07-26
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Trade/Investment
Korea designates 7 specialized complexes for national high-tech industries
The Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced on July 20 that it has designated seven National High-Tech Strategic Industry specialized complexes for semiconductors, secondary batteries and displays, into which a total of KRW 614 trillion of private investment will be poured by 2042. A total of 21 regions applied for the designation as a specialized complex, of which seven have been selected on the basis of the potential for industrial ecosystem developm date2023-07-24
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Trade/Investment
Trade Minister attends Digital Trade Agreements Seminar
Minister for Trade Dukgeun Ahn attended the Digital Trade Agreements Seminar on July 19 at Korea International Trade Association (KITA) in Seoul, held to seek strategies in responding to the rapidly changing trade landscape amid digitization of international trade. In his opening message, Trade Minister Ahn remarked that “the Government plans to expand the digital trade network and make sure companies’ interests are factored in the process of establishing digital trade regul date2023-07-20
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Trade/Investment
Korea's auto exports hit record-breaking $35.7 billion in H1 2023
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) of the Republic of Korea announced on July 17 that Korea’s automobile exports for the first half (H1) of 2023 reached a total of USD 35.7 billion (up 46.6 percent year-on-year), surpassing the previous all-time high record ($25.2 billion in H1 2014) by over $10 billion. Eco-friendly vehicles, namely battery electric vehicles (BEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) and hybrid electric vehicles date2023-07-17
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Trade/Investment
Korea & Japan forge path with export control cooperation framework
The Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) and Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) held a director-level policy dialogue on export control via video call on July 7, following Japan’s decision to put Korea back on its whitelist of preferential trading partners. The two countries agreed that mutual trust in the field of export control has been fully restored, and signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) on export control as a framew date2023-07-14