Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

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

Korean government to increase the number of eco-friendly cars to one million by 2020

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced the "3rd Master Plan for the Development and Supply of Eco-Friendly Cars" on December 08. Here are the details:     A total of 80,000 eco-friendly cars were produced this year, and the number will increase to 920,000 in 2020. The number of imported eco-friendly cars will also increase from 50,000 to 640,000 in the same year.     Currently there are 180,000 eco-friendly cars in Korea, and the plan is to increase the number to 1.08 million by 2020. This means that 20 percent of the entire volume of cars will be eco-friendly.     The plan also includes securing technological competitiveness to improve the price competitiveness of eco-friendly cars from 44 percent to 72 percent, and technological level from 93 percent to 96 percent in comparison with other advanced countries.     To achieve these goals, MOTIE came up with the three following strategies:     1. Develop competitive eco-friendly cars     Invest a total of 150 billion($ 132 million) in R&D over a period of 5 years with the aim to improve the performance of core parts in order overcome the limitations of eco-friendly cars such as short driving range and high price.     Improve the performance of batteries and other important parts to improve the performance and driving range by 2.5 times, and shave off the price of hydrogen vehicles by more than 40 percent by using new materials and developing new high pressure vessels.     2. Expand low cost and high efficiency infrastructure     Build 1,400 public EV charging stations and 80 hydrogen charging stations by 2020 to make it easier for eco-friendly car owners to charge their car.     Also build "Fusion Charging Stations" with gas, CNC and hydrogen charging stations in order to reduce the cost of building hydrogen charging stations, which cost about KRW3 billion won to build. In addition, build "Module Charging Stations" by making the charging parts in modules for space efficiency. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy plans to run test projects from 2016.     3. Build social infrastructure for using eco-friendly cars     Offer subsidies to people wishing to buy eco-friendly cars, build charging stations and offer operating subsidies by 2020.     In 2016, the subsidies are 27.5 million won for hydrogen cars, 12 million won for EV's, 5 million won for PHV's and 1 million won for HV's     Specify the management system for EV charging business and propose a hydrogen pricing guideline in order to promote related industries to help ensure profits for both the eco-friendly car owners and charging station owners.     Offer a reasonable price for charging EV's at public charging stations, which are currently provided for free, in order to establish a more stable basis for users, and reduce the hydrogen price by purchasing in large quantities.     New systems are also on the way.     EV car parking spaces will be mandatory in new apartment buildings to make it easier to install charging stations, and issue different license plates for EV's.     Also, buildings installed with an EV charging station will be given Green Building Certificate Points, and EV tuning businesses will receive support.     * Short version date2015-12-08

Joint Korea-Czech nuclear power cooperation committee discusses measures to enter third countries

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced on December 03 that MOTIE and Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade held the Joint Korea-Czech Nuclear Power Cooperation Committee meeting in Prague on December 1, 2015. The meeting was attended by over 40 delegates and representatives of businesses in the nuclear power industry.     The meeting was focused on establishing a plan for promoting new nuclear power plants in Czech, joint marketing in third countries and joint research on EU-APR.     The meeting was followed by a business conference the afternoon with the participation of business representatives, who had one-on-one conversation on nuclear power plant operation, fuel, maintenance and materials, as well as localization and cooperation in tapping into third countries.     Also after the joint committee meeting, an MOU on nuclear power cooperation was signed between Skoda Praha, a subsidiary of CEZ, and KEPCO. According to the MOU, the two companies agreed to jointly develop new nuclear power businesses, operate/maintain nuclear power plants, establish a supply network and exchange new technologies.     On the next day, KHNP signed a consulting agreement with Skoda Praha on obtaining the EUR certificate. The EUR (European Utility Requirements) are nuclear reactor design requirements for European businesses necessary when bidding for a new nuclear power plant project.     The two companies agreed to make joint efforts to obtain the EUR certificate until 2017.     According to the New Nuclear Power Plant Construction Plan announced by CEZ in May 2015, the Republic of Czech will decide on a new nuclear power business model by June 2015 and suppliers through public bidding before 2019.     The Republic of Czech currently has a total of 6 nuclear power plants ---4 in Dukovany and 2 in Temelin --- and these power plants generate about 35 percent of the electricity used in the country.     * Short version   date2015-12-03

The Center for Creative Economy and Innovation to become a birthplace of smart factories

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced on December 02 that the Center for Creative Economy and Innovation will play a leading role in the Smart Factory Promotion Project.     The Korea Smart Factory Foundation (KOSF), which is a supervisory body for smart factory projects, signed a project agreement with the 18 Centers for Creative Economy and Innovation located throughout the country at the KT Building in Seoul on December 2, 2015.     According to the agreement, the Centers for Creative Economy and Innovation will receive a total of 30 billion won ($27 million) and over 150 Samsung engineers from the TF over a period of two years, and convert the existing factories of over 600 SME's into a smart factory.     Both the ministry and Samsung agreed in August this year to give 15 billion won each to the TF to be used in building smart factories.     The Samsung engineers to be sent to the Centers for Creative Economy and Innovation will provide hand-on technical support through the process of identifying businesses subject to support, building the system and follow-up services.     The ministry will receive applications from SME's wishing to build a smart factory next year as early as December this year. Companies wishing to participate in this program can submit an application to the Center for Creative Economy and Innovation in their area.     * Short version date2015-12-02

Military supplies to become user-friendly fashion items

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) and Ministry of National Defense (MND) held an initiation report meeting on the 'Military Supply Quality and Design Improvement Project' on December 2, 2015 at the Korea Institute of Design Promotion and signed an MOU to invest a total of 600 million won ($ 540,000) over a period of 16 months.     Military supplies subject to this project include rifle slings, shovels, winter gloves, camouflage cover for bullet-proof helmet and protect date2015-12-02

South Korea's National Assembly Approves FTA with China

      South Korea's National Assembly yesterday approved a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) with China, clearing the final hurdle for the implementation of the deal possibly within this year.   The parliamentary bill was passed with a 196-33 majority for the Korea-China FTA, which was signed in June to eventually remove tariffs on about 90 percent of goods traded between the two countries.   The National Assembly also approved FTAs with New Zealand and Vietnam.   In a press briefing, Kim Hak-do, assistant minister for trade negotiations at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE), welcomed the passage of the FTA bill with Korea's largest trading partner and pledged to make all efforts to implement it as quickly as possible before the new year. date2015-12-01