Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

9th Korea-China-Japan FTA negotiation talks to be held in Hakone, Japan

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced on December 14 that the 9th working-level talks for the Korea-China-Japan will be held from December 14 to December 18, 2015 in Hakone, Japan.     The talks will include guidelines for negotiations on the reduction of customs duties, free service and investment, and other core issues. The negotiations will be carried out by over 20 technical teams.     Korea, China, and Japan have brought the "Comprehensive and High-Standard FTA Principles" to the negotiation table on eight occasions since the announcement of the FTA in November 2012.     At the summit meeting held between the three countries in November this year, the leaders have agreed to accelerate the negotiations to reach a comprehensive, high-standard, and mutually beneficial FTA     * Short version date2015-12-14

South Korea and Indonesia Seek Ways to Boost Trade Ties

South Korea and Indonesia Seek Ways to Boost Trade Ties   The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE)'s 2nd Vice Minister Moon Jae-do welcomed a visit by Indonesian Trade Minister Thomas Lembong yesterday in Seoul. The two officials discussed ways to improve industrial and economic cooperation between Asia's fourth-biggest economy and one of its most important partners in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including following through on tariff cuts under the Korea-AS date2015-12-11

Provisional Korea-EU FTA fully in effect starting December 13

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced on December 11 that the Korea-EU FTA will be in full effect starting December 13 after a provisional period of 4 years and 5 months.     The Korea-EU FTA has been provisionally in effect since July 1, 2011 due to the different ratifications by the 27 EU member states.     After the full implementation of the FTA on December 13, and according to the decisions made at the EU council meeting, some of the articles that have been excluded during the provisional period, such as cultural cooperation protocol and intellectual property enforcement, have also been put in force.     The Cultural Cooperation Protocol regulates cooperation between artists, cultural experts, performers, and audio-visual production as well as broadcasting, performing arts, publication, and cultural properties.     The intellectual property enforcement regulates trademark rights, copyright, violation of neighboring rights, criminal punishment procedures, and types with regard to the violation of geographical indication and design counterfeit.     * Short version date2015-12-11

Power supply to be stabilized for this Winter with over 12 million kW in power reserve

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced on December 10 that power supply may be stabilized for this winter with power reserves of around 12.21 million kW, which is about 3.85 million kW more than the last winter.     According to the ministry's forecast, the expected power consumption this winter is 81 million kW, or 390,000 kW more than the winter of last year. Thanks to new power generators, the maximum power supply capacity will increase by 3.85 million kW to 93.21 million kW.     With this, power reserves are expected at around 12.21 million kW --- enough to ensure stable power supply unless the weather is abnormally cold, a large generator shuts down or the power cables break.     The Ministry said that it has emergency plans to make sure power supply is stabilized even in case of an accident.     The ministry has conducted special inspections on power plants, transmission and transformer facilities that greatly affect power supply in case of a failure.     It has also secured 4.21 million kW of power reserve by opening a resource consumption trade market to promote voluntary reduction of power consumption and using the electricity generated through test runs of new generators to be in service from early next year.     Additional 3 million kW is also reserved through voltage reduction, maximum operation of privately-owned generators and emergency power-saving in preparation for unexpected power shortage.     * Short version   date2015-12-10

A roadmap for smart manufacturing R&D to be announced

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) and Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning announced on December 10 that a mid- to long-term roadmap to provide strategic support for smart manufacturing technologies for smart sensors, CPS, 3D printing, energy saving, IoT, cloud, big data and hologram.     These are the eight core technologies needed for building a mass production system and innovating the manufacturing industries through early development of new products, production of efficient prototypes and establishment of an optimum mass production system.     According to the roadmap, a total of 416 billion won ($376 million) will be invested in the development of smart manufacturing technologies in the next five years. The ministries plan to reflect the importance of technology development, effects on the industries and level of urgency in their R&D and investment plans starting from next year.     They forecasted that over 56,000 people will be needed in these areas, and the number of new jobs is expected to reach over 25,000. More demand is expected for the areas of design, planning, security and fusion technology R&D.     They plan to focus on the development of human resources for each respective area, strengthening of relationship between businesses and engineering faculties of universities in different regions and designation of human resources development councils for the areas of new technology.     They set up a roadmap promotion council composed of 76 experts from universities, businesses and research institutes at the end of April for the innovation of manufacturing industries with the support of KIAT and IITP.     * Short version date2015-12-10

Korea-China FTA to Take Effect from December 20

      A free trade agreement (FTA) between the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and China will go into effect from December 20.   The two countries exchanged a diplomatic document for the official implementation of their bilateral FTA in Beijing today.   The Korea-China FTA was signed in June to gradually remove all tariffs on more than 90 percent of goods traded between the two countries within 20 years.   South Korea and New Zealand have also agreed to implement their recently-signed bilateral FTA on December 20. date2015-12-09

Korea-New Zealand FTA in Force from December 20, 2015

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced on December 09 that the FTA between Korea and New Zealand will be in force from December 20, 2015.     Korea and New Zealand exchanged diplomatic notes to confirm the enforcement of the FTA on December 20, 2015 at the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade on December 9, 2015.     According to the FTA, customs duties will be reduced for the second time on January 1, 2016 for mutual benefits for both countries.     Click below to see details of the Korea-New Zealand FTA.         * Short version   date2015-12-09

Korea-China FTA to be in force from December 20

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced on December 09 that the FTA between Korea and China will be in force from December 20, 2015.     Korea and China exchanged diplomatic notes to finalize the enforcement of Korea-China FTA starting on December 20 in Beijing on December 9, 2015.     Customs duties will be reduced on December 20, 2015 and again on January 1, 2016, which will greatly help Korean companies increase their exports to China.     The two countries will also speed up the negotiation process to allow Korean companies to enter some of the promising Chinese markets such as law, engineering, environment and entertainment while also removing non-tariff barriers.     Meanwhile, a number of global companies from other advanced countries are expected to invest in Korean companies to take advantage of the Korea-China FTA, creating more jobs.     Other possible effects of the Korea-China FTA include 0.96 percent GDP increase, $ 14.6 billion increase in consumer service and creation of 53,800 new jobs over the following 10 years.     * Short version date2015-12-09

South Korea and Czech Republic Sign MoU on Nuclear Cooperation

      South Korea and the Czech Republic signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to cooperate on nuclear power last week.   Korea's Deputy Energy Minister Chung Yang-ho and Czech Vice Trade and Industry Minister Lenka Kovacovska attended the signing ceremony in Prague. date2015-12-08

Trade surplus for 2015 despite drops in both exports and imports

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced on December 08 that both imports and exports dropped this year. Exports between January and November reached $ 484.6 billion, which is 7.6 percent lower than the same period of last year, while imports also dropped by 16.6 percent to $ 401.4 billion during the same period.     However, the balance of trade was in a surplus since the total amount of imports dropped more significantly due to material price reduction. The total trade surplus between January and November reached a record-breaking $ 83.2 billion.     Some of the main reasons for the drop in imports and exports include reduced raw material price, global trade slowdown and weak yen and euro. Other structural factors include slow Chinese economic growth and expansion of overseas production of major industries.     Korean companies now have the largest share of the Chinese import market by recording 10.5 percent (Jan~Aug) from 9.7 percent last year. Their share of the U.S. import market also increased from 3.0 percent to 3.3 percent (Jan~Aug), which is higher than those of Germany, Japan and other exporters.     Korea beat France in international exports by ranking 6th this year.     According to the WTO's announcement on export growth by major countries in the first half of this year, Korean exports rose by 5.6 percent, while Japan and EU recorded 3.8 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively. It's more than twice the average growth rate, which is 2.3 percent.     The export share of SME's continues to grow. The export share of Korean SME's rose to 33.8 percent last year from 32.1 percent in 2012, and then to 35.7 percent between January and September this year.     Export items are also being diversified thanks to the development of new promising items. Until November this year, new promising items that showed growth included cosmetics (57.5 percent), OLED (26.4 percent) and SSD (31.0 percent).     * Short version date2015-12-08