Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

MOTIE Deputy Trade Minister Woo Attends 27th APEC Ministerial Meeting

MOTIE Deputy Trade Minister Woo Attends 27th APEC Ministerial Meeting   The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE)'s Deputy Trade Minister Woo Tae-hee attended the 27th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministerial Meeting in Manila, the Philippines, this week. During the global gathering, Deputy Minister Woo stressed the need for promoting inclusive and sustainable growth through regional economic intergration in the Asia-Pacific. date2015-11-18

The 2015 Engineering Education Festival to be held for engineers, manufacturers, and people

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced on November 18 that it will sponsor the "2015 Engineering Education Festival" to be held at the Daegu EXPO between November 18 and 19. It will be held for the fourth time to encourage and support engineering students, and show a guideline for them to enter the industry after their graduation.     During the festival, engineering students at the Gachon University showcased a solution that can automatically maintain the balance of the stretcher. Their idea was to install angle and vibration sensors on the stretcher to help the medical staff always maintain the horizontal level.     The students received the Prime Minister's Award for their invention at the festival.     Meanwhile, students at the Korea University of Technology & Education introduced a new embedded system for musicians. Using this system, an LED display can be embedded on a guitar to show the notes so that the guitarist doesn't have to have a sheet music to practice the music. Including these two, a total of five inventions received the MOTIE Award.     At the festival, college students can compete with their new and innovative engineering ideas, show their capstone designs and also get the chance to participate in global engineering conferences.     This year's festival was participated by more than 20,000 students and professors from over 120 colleges of engineering, as well as engineers from Hyundai Motor and LG Electronics.     * Short version date2015-11-18

Korea and Vietnam Hold Sixth Joint Committee Meeting on Economic Cooperation

      Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Yoon Sang-jick attended the Sixth Meeting of Joint Committee Between Vietnam and Korea for Cooperation on Nuclear Power Development, Energy, Industry and Trade in Hanoi last week.   During the meeting, Minister Yoon and Vietnam's Minister of Industry and Trade Vũ Huy Hoàng discussed their achievements of bilateral economic cooperation, including the Korea-Vietnam Incubator Park (KVIP) in Can Tho City.   To find out more information about the KVIP, please check this related article by Tuoi Tre News at date2015-11-16

Farmers able to check out duty-free oil prices at Opinet

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced on November 16 that anyone can check out duty-free agricultural oil prices at Opinet (www.spinet.co.kr) launched and operated by the Korea National Oil Corporation. The website is designed to help farmers find the best price for their oil.     While leaded and unleaded gasoline prices that have been open for comparison at the site, duty-free agricultural oil prices were not, leaving the farmers at a loss to find out the best price.     To solve this problem, the MOTIE and Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs joined hands to provide duty-free oil prices through Opinet from November 16.     A total of 658 Nonghyup gas stations and 480 other brand gas stations have agreed to post their price on Opinet for farmers.     The MOTIE plans to revise relevant laws and regulations to make it mandatory for all the remaining 4,544 gas stations in South Korea to post their oil prices on Opinet.     Once revised, gas stations will also be forced to display their duty-free oil price in addition to leaded and unleaded gasoline prices starting from January 1, 2015, making it easier for farmers to know how much money they can save on tax.     * Short version date2015-11-16

MOTIE signs MOU to utilize warm water from power plants

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced on November 12 that MOTIE and Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries signed an MOU to remove barriers between their divisions for the utilization of the warm water from power plants. After signing the MOU, they created new fish farms around Boryeong Thermal Power Plant and Nam-Jeju Thermal Power Plant. These fish farms mostly grow spotted bass eggs and young striped beakfish.     One example of using the power plant water for fish farming is the Busan Natural Gas Power Plant, which is a project participated by the power plant, Korea Maritime Institute and National Institute of Fisheries Science. A heat storage system is also installed to maximize the use of the warm water, so that the heat supply can cover a wider area.     Korea is not the only country using the power plant water, as many European countries and the US have already been using the power plant water for fish farming, tropical botanical gardens and crocodile farms. As for Korea, the country plans to be competitive in using the power plant water as a new source of growth convergence with ITC.     * Short version date2015-11-12

MOTIE Hosts 2015 Seoul Conference on Trade & Industry

      The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) hosted the 2015 Seoul Conference on Trade & Industry (SCTI) at Gran Seoul in the South Korean capital yesterday under the theme of "A New Paradigm for the World Trading System."   This year's forum discussed the world trading system's new paradigm emerging from the rise of mega-free trade agreements (FTAs) such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Transatlantic Trade and   About 400 participants included global trade experts as well as diplomatic and foreign business leaders, such as WTO Deputy Director-General Yonov Frederick Agah, Assistant United States Trade Representative Bruce Hirsh, Ambassador of the European Delegation to Korea Gerhard Sabathil, and American Chamber of Commerce in Korea President Amy Jackson.   In a luncheon speech, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Yoon Sang-jick stressed that Korea will continue its support for regional economic integration and global trade liberalization as it has been spearheading such global efforts by concluding 15 FTAs with 52 countries and regions, including the U.S., the European Union and China.   The 2015 SCTI provided an excellent opportunity for local and foreign trade and industry professionals to examine major trade issues surrounding Korea from an objective and balanced perspective through insightful presentations and active discussion.   The MOTIE plans to regularly hold the Seoul Conference on Trade & Industry, which is co-hosted by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) and organized by the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP), to make it a prestigious global conference discussing trade in Korea and around the world. date2015-11-11

The 2nd special sale season to be launched for Chinese online shoppers

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced on November 10 that Korean online shopping malls have agreed to launch the 2nd Special Sale Season for Chinese shoppers between November 26 and 28.     In the first season between August 19 and 21, a total of 17 Korean online shopping malls put their items on discount, and more than 410,000 Chinese shoppers visited their sites and purchased over 1.5 billion won ($1.35 million) worth of goods, which is about 3.7 times more than the total sales during the same period in the previous year.     The only problem was that a majority of Chinese is not familiar with these sites.     To remedy this situation, they have recruited five big online shopping malls that are currently operating in China in addition to 19 shopping malls operating in South Korea, so more Chinese will be aware of the sale season.     This time the online shopping malls will promote their sale by using web ads, with the appearance of the "hallyu star" Lee Da-Hae, a Korean actress popular in China.     * Short version date2015-11-10

A popular comic character to be used as a public relations officer for FTA

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced on November 10 that Dalma, a popular comic character in South Korea who represents typical, married middle-aged South Korean office workers, was appointed as a public relations officer for FTA.     The government agencies that voted to use him in their guideline for using FTA's include MOTIE, KCCI (Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry) and KOTRA (Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency), because the character in the comic book, "Cheer Up, Dalma!" portrays the everyday life of an ordinary Korean man.     The guideline includes the basic concept of FTA, export methods, business culture by country and a list of experts who can provide help on a case by case basis.     MOTIE has been promoting the use of this guideline through video and theater ads since August this year.     This time, the ministry published a guideline that can actually help Korean businesses seeking to enter the Chinese market. As for KCCI and KOTRA, they plan to use this guideline as a training material for the FTA staff.     The webtoon, "Cheer Up, Dalma!" on Naver had over 16,000 subscribers and more than 20,000 viewers per episode.     * Short version date2015-11-10

New Shin Wolsong nuclear plant units 1 & 2 now in operation for more power supply

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced on November 09 that Shin Wolsong Nuclear Plant Units 1 and 2 with a power generation capacity of 1,000MW each are now in operation.     The MOTIE held an opening ceremony at the new power plant units located in Wolseong, Gyeongju, South Korea on November 9, 2015 with the participation of more than 1,000 related parties and local residents.     With these new units, total power reserves will increase by 3.4 percent, and decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 13 million tons.     A total of 5 trillion won have been invested in this project since it was launched in October 2005, and over 700 billion worth of economic activities are expected to be generated from this.     * Short version date2015-11-09

The TPP agreement is open to public to show similarities of the Korea-US FTA

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced on November 05 that the TPP (Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership) agreement is shown on the websites of participating countries including New Zealand.     Legal review of the agreement is yet to be completed, and it can be revised until it's officially signed.     The agreement is composed of a total of 30 chapters, which are very similar to those of the Korea-US FTA since the negotiations were carried out based on the Korea-US FTA.     In terms of market access, tariff elimination will be effective immediately up until 30 years from now, and about 95 to 100 percent of the items will be duty free according to the agreement. This is one of the similarities with the Korea-US FTA that has already been signed.     The TPP standards reflect the global trends discussed at the WTO and TISA, and it's highly likely that they' will serve as global standards for the future.     The agreement also has 6 more chapters than the Korea-US FTA which has 24 chapters, and the additional chapters include the areas of government-run enterprises, strengthening of cooperation and capabilities, promotion of competition and businesses, development, SME's and balanced regulations.     If Korea partakes in the TPP, it's expected to have positive effects on Korean companies' exports and investments such as further opening of services, investment and government procurement markets as well as conformity and improvement of regulations and systems in intellectual rights and e-commerce.     Soon after the announcement of the TPP agreement, Korean government organized a special team of experts from various government agencies under the supervision of MOTIE to analyze the TPP agreement, particularly the tariff reduction in services and investment by comparing the agreement with other FTA's currently in force.     Further discussions will take place at the 6th Trade Committee Meeting to be held on November 6, 2015 to come up with a detailed plan to analyze the TPP agreement.     Based on the results of the meeting, the Korean government will thoroughly analyze the effects on domestic industries and economy so it can act straight towards national interests after a series of procedures such as public hearing, report to the National Assembly and Trade Treaty Conclusion Procedure Act.     * Short version date2015-11-05