Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

Vice Minister Woo attends panel discussion during the 23rd World Energy Congress

      Trade, Industry and Energy Vice Minister Woo Taehee (second from right) attended a panel discussion for new energy businesses at the 23rd World Energy Congress (WEC), held between October 9-13  in Istanbul, Turkey.   The most comprehensive gathering in the global energy scene was designed to address the looming energy “trilemma”—energy security, energy equality, and environmental sustainability.   Vice Minister Woo presented Korea' date2016-10-12

Minister Joo proposes new approaches to bolster Korea-U.S. economic ties at meeting with U.S. business community

    South Korean Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Joo Hyunghwan  delivered a speech on bilateral benefits of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement and three new ways to bolster  the  Korea-U.S. economic  ties at  the 28th annual plenary meeting of the Korea-U.S. Business Councils, which were co-hosted by the Federation of Korea Industries and the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AMCHAM) in  Yeouido, Seoul, on November 10.  About  70 date2016-10-11

KATS recommends consumers stop using Galaxy Note 7

The Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS) under the roof of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy issued three recommendations for consumers and Samsung Electronics, the manufacturer of Galaxy Note 7, on Tuesday following a meeting on Monday which concluded that there is a possibility of a new type of defect in the mobile phone beyond the battery issue.  Below are the three recommendations issued collectively by KATS officials, Samsung Electronics and technological experts date2016-10-11

Minister Joo meets with Japanese business leaders

    Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Joo Hyunghwan (second from right) discussed economic cooperation with over 50 delegates from Keidanren, Japan's big business interest group, led by the chairman Sadayuki Sakakibara, in Seoul on Oct 10. date2016-10-11

Domestic automotive sales and production fell in September

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on Oct 7 that the domestic automotive sales fell 13.8 percent to 128,674 units in September compared with the same period last year, with the end of the special consumption tax cut.   Local car production also dropped 22.7 percent to 258,026 units last month from a year ago mainly due to the prolonged walkout of Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors, the county’s top two automakers.   Affected by the shrinking car production, car export date2016-10-07

Minister Joo attends opening ceremony of ‘Energy Plus 2016’

      Trade, Energy, and Industry Minister Joo Hyunghwan (sixth from right) cut ribbon at the inauguration of 'Energy Plus 2016' held at COEX in Samseong-dong, southern Seoul, on October 5 with over ten industry leaders in attendance, including Han Duck-soo, chair of the Climate Change Center, Chang Se-chang, chairman of the Korea Electrical Manufacturers Association, and Koo Ja-kyun, chairman of the Korea Smart Grid Association.   The annual event is designe date2016-10-05

Korea's fresh FDI hits new record high in first 9 months of 2016

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on Oct 4 that foreign direct investment newly pledged in the first nine months of this year has reached a record high of USD 15.05 billion, a 13.4 percent climb from $13.27 billion a year ago.   It marked the largest amount of FDI pledged in history for a nine-month period, surpassing the earlier record of $14.8 billion tallied over the same period in 2014. For the third quarter alone, new FDI pledges also gained 2.1 percent on-year to a date2016-10-04

Korean exports fall 5.9% in September

    Partial strikes at major automobile companies including Hyundai Motor has negatively affected the exports by 79,000 units of cars. As a result, car exports dived 24 percent compared to the same month last year, to $ 1.14 billion. Wireless device exports, such as Samsung Electronics' Galaxy note 7, plunged as well by 27.9 percent to $ 0.37 billion. The fall of four major exports, which consists of wireless devices, cars, ships and petrochemicals, led  the plunge of total monthly export. The four key industries together are responsible for $ 2.5 billion of export decrease, which amounts to 93.9 percent.     Product-wise, year-on-year statistics fell but major export products shown signs of recovery regardless of walkouts in automobile industry and fewer working days. Semiconductors enjoyed renewed demand since September 2015, thanks to global launching of new smartphones and smartphone products and month-on-month unit price increase. However last year's record of the same month was the second highest in its history, thus outbound shipment of semiconductors consequently suffered a slight on-year fall of 2.6 percent  in comparison. Computers and auto parts have also shown higher international demand with 13.3  percent and 3.5 percent  export increase, respectively.     Regionally, outbound shipments to Vietnam and Japan remained on the positive terrain with 16.9 percent and 6.3 percent climb. But exports bound to China sank 9.1 percent as well as those to U.S., 6.1 percent, and the EU, 14.5 percent.                   date2016-10-01

Korea unveils policy direction to strengthen competitiveness of steel and petrochemical industries

South Korean economic ministries, including the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, unveiled on Friday their coordinated plans to strengthen the competitiveness of steel and petrochemical industries, both of which face an oversupply issue.   A policy direction to sharpen an edge of the troubled shipping and shipbuilding is expected to be announced in October.   To maintain global demand for Korean steel and petrochemical products, the government will encourage and help reduce date2016-09-30

Minister Joo attends 'Korea Sale FESTA' opening ceremony

  Trade, Energy, and Industry Minister Joo Hyunghwan (center) waved his light stick at the K-POP concert, designed to celebrate the opening of the `Korea Sale FESTA' at Yeongdongdearo on Sept. 30. Minister Joo along with Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Cho Yoon-sun, Chairman Park Sam-koo of the Visit Korea Committee and other related officials attended the opening ceremony for the country's biggest shopping and cultural event. The Ministry organized the nationwide festival with aims o date2016-09-30