Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

Korea and Vietnam hold signing of minutes

Minister for Trade, Industry and Energy Dukgeun Ahn of the Republic of Korea met Vietnam’s Trade and Industry Minister Nguyen Hong Dien today in Seoul, where the two sides held a ceremony for the signing of minutes of their bilateral ministerial talks. date2025-02-25

Minister Ahn meets Vietnam’s Trade and Industry Minister

Minister for Trade, Industry and Energy Dukgeun Ahn of the Republic of Korea met Vietnam’s Trade and Industry Minister Nguyen Hong Dien today in Seoul for bilateral talks on measures to widen energy and trade cooperation. date2025-02-25

Korea’s retail industry advances 11.7% in January

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced today that Korea’s retail industry grew 11.7 percent year-on-year in the month of January 2025, with offline and online sales advancing 8.8 percent and 14.6 percent, respectively. MOTIE's monthly retail sales figures are based on surveys of 23 major retailers. Thirteen of them are brick-and-mortar retailers: three department store chains, three hypermarket chains, three convenience store chains, and four super supermarket (SSMs) operators. The remaining 10 are online retailers. By offline retail channel, hypermarket sales jumped 16.1 percent as Seollal holiday demand spurred sales across all categories, centering on food products (up 19.1 percent), home appliances/culture (up 7.5 percent), and home/living (up 8.2 percent). Department store sales climbed 10.3 percent on the backs of Seollal gift purchases, led by foreign designer labels (up 17.3 percent), food products (up 24.9 percent), and kids/sports (up 9.3 percent). Convenience store sales inched up 1.7 percent, with food products (up 2.5 percent) and nonfood products (up 0.9 percent) both increasing, whereas instant food products (down 5.0 percent) shrank for the first time since last year’s Chuseok holidays in September 2024. SSM operators rose 4.8 percent as food products (up 5.1 percent) and nonfood products (up 1.4 percent) both grew, thanks to higher demand for home dining and kitchenware during the Seollal holidays. Online retail sales (up 14.6 percent) enjoyed robust demand for food products (up 19.6 percent), cosmetics (up 7.7 percent), and service/other (up 73.3 percent), fueled by purchases of Seollal holiday gift and e-coupons, rental services for water purifiers and other items, as well as the expansion of online platforms’ delivery services. Meanwhile, sales of fashion/clothing (down 12.8 percent), sports (down 11.9 percent), and home appliances/electronics (down 6.2 percent) continued to slow.   date2025-02-25

Korea and Vietnam to boost nuclear energy cooperation

Minister for Trade, Industry and Energy Dukgeun Ahn of the Republic of Korea met Vietnam’s Trade and Industry Minister Nguyen Hong Dien today in Seoul for bilateral talks on measures to widen energy and trade cooperation. Korea’s biggest trading and investment partner among ASEAN members and third largest trading partner in the world following China and the U.S., Vietnam is home to approximately 9,000 Korean companies. Today’s bilateral talks took place on the margins of Minister Nguyen Hong Dien’s visit to Korea for discussions on nuclear power cooperation, as Vietnam is recently gearing up to resume its nuclear energy development.  During the meeting, the Vietnamese delegation introduced its nuclear policy trends and proposed that the two countries expand their bilateral nuclear energy cooperation, to which the Korean delegation suggested that the two countries resume the bilateral director general-level nuclear industry dialogue channel, which has been on hiatus since 2017, for consultations on more concrete collaboration measures. In view of recent uncertainties in the trade landscape, both sides agreed to closely communicate and work together to mitigate business challenges Korean companies experience in the local Vietnamese market and to swiftly finalize negotiations on upgrading the Korea-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (FTA) for customs convenience. They also decided to bolster cooperation in supply chains through the critical minerals supply chain technology cooperation center project to be launched this year.   date2025-02-25

Korea to strengthen energy cooperation with Türkiye and Saudi Arabia

Deputy Minister for Energy Policy Lee Ho-hyeon at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) of the Republic of Korea is visiting the Republic of Türkiye and Saudi Arabia through February 24–27 for high-level intergovernmental talks on bilateral energy cooperation in areas like nuclear reactors, power grids, hydrogen, and petroleum. On February 24, Deputy Minister Lee is meeting with Turkish Deputy Ministers of Energy and Natural Resources Zafer Demircan and Ahmet Berat Çonkar to exchange views on the two countries’ various energy agendas such as nuclear power and clean energy. Under an aim to secure stable energy supply, Türkiye is seeking to build a 20GW nuclear reactor by 2050. In addition to executing the Akkuyu nuclear power plant (NPP) project launched in 2010, the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources is currently on the lookout for a project contractor for nuclear new builds in the Sinop and Thrace regions. As the first intergovernmental nuclear energy dialogue in 13 years between the two countries, today’s high-level meeting is expected to spur related discussions going forward. On the 26th, Deputy Minister Lee will also be meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Assistant Minister of Energy for Electricity Affairs Nasser Al-Qahtani to share policy trends and bilateral cooperation measures regarding large-scale NPP projects, power grid expansions, and clean hydrogen. Saudi Arabia is in the process of diversifying its power mix and transitioning to a system suitable for sustainable growth, leading to anticipation of considerable potential for collaboration with Korea over a wide range of energy areas.   date2025-02-24

Minister Ahn meets U.S. Embassy Chargé d'Affaires ad interim

Korea’s Minister for Trade, Industry and Energy Dukgeun Ahn of the Republic of Korea held talks with Ambassador Joseph Yun, Chargé d'Affaires ad interim at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, today to discuss measures for stronger Korea-U.S. cooperation in trade, investment, and energy. The two sides also agreed to continue joint efforts for Korea’s successful hosting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 2025. date2025-02-21

Minister Ahn meets Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs

Minister for Trade, Industry and Energy Dukgeun Ahn of the Republic of Korea met Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs Dirk Beljaarts on February 20 in Seoul for discussions on measures to strengthen Korea-Netherlands industrial cooperation as well as agendas like economic security, supply chains, and semiconductors. date2025-02-21

Minister Ahn discusses stronger Korea-U.S. cooperation with U.S. Embassy Chargé d'Affaires ad interim

Korea’s Minister for Trade, Industry and Energy Dukgeun Ahn of the Republic of Korea held talks with Ambassador Joseph Yun, Chargé d'Affaires ad interim at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, today to discuss measures for stronger Korea-U.S. cooperation in trade, investment, and energy. The two sides also agreed to continue joint efforts for Korea’s successful hosting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 2025. Minister Ahn assessed that Korea-U.S. relations have advanced towards an economic and advanced industrial alliance based on the steady expansion of bilateral trade and investment, expressing anticipation for the two countries’ continued and enhanced cooperation under the new U.S. administration. Viewing that the Korea-U.S. partnership has strong potential for further development in cutting-edge areas like batteries, semiconductors, shipbuilding, and energy, the minister underscored the need for continuity and stability on both sides with respect to policies that are likely to impact bilateral trade and investment. Chargé d'Affaires ad interim Yun responded that utmost efforts will be made at the U.S. Embassy level to bolster the Korea-U.S. alliance, which has progressed to deepen the two countries’ relations in all aspects over the past 70 years. The Korean government plans to maintain close consultation with the U.S. government while monitoring the new administration’s trade and economic measures with regard to their impact on bilateral trade and investment.   date2025-02-21

Korea and Netherlands discuss stronger industrial cooperation

Minister for Trade, Industry and Energy Dukgeun Ahn of the Republic of Korea met Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs Dirk Beljaarts today in Seoul for discussions on measures to strengthen Korea-Netherlands industrial cooperation. Among EU member states, the Netherlands is Korea’s second largest trading partner (USD 15.0 billion as of 2024) and biggest investor ($39.9 billion in accumulated pledges for 2024 as of September), with the two countries’ businesses vigorously engaged in collaboration in cutting-edge industries like semiconductors and batteries. During today’s talks, the two sides covered agenda items such as bilateral cooperation, economic security, supply chains, and semiconductors, sharing their industrial policy trends and cooperation progress. Noting the active Korea-Netherlands joint R&D cooperation in information and communications technology (ICT) and bio, Minister Ahn expressed anticipation for wider technology collaboration with continued in-depth consultations through the bilateral Joint Innovation Committee established between Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) and the Netherlands’ Ministry of Economic Affairs. The minister further highlighted the need for continued intergovernmental cooperation in export controls and supply chains, and both sides agreed that economic security is a shared key issue as uncertainties are intensifying across the global trade landscape. Highly appraising the smooth progress of the bilateral semiconductor dialogue, Future Chips Academy, and other joint projects in the semiconductor field following the forging of the Korea-Netherlands Semiconductor Alliance in December 2023, Minister Ahn underscored the importance of close bilateral cooperation amid growing uncertainties in the global chip supply chain.   date2025-02-20

Korea-Czech Energy Technology Forum

Trade, Industry and Energy Vice Minister Namho Choe of the Republic of Korea attended the Korea-Czech Republic Energy Technology Forum held today in Seoul with the participation of the Czech Minister for Industry and Trade Lukáš Vlček, TACR Chairman Petr Konvalinka, and KETEP President Lee Seung-jae among roughly 150 attendees comprising both countries’ industry, academia, and research experts and government officials for discussions on measures for bilateral cooperation in energy technology. date2025-02-18