Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

Korea holds symposium with top experts on WTO dispute settlement system reform

Minister for Trade Dukgeun Ahn chaired the international symposium for the reform of the dispute settlement system of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on August 31 at the Lotte Hotel Seoul. Top scholars on the topic, including Stanford Law School Professor Alan Sykes, Columbia Law School Professor Petros Mavroidis, Harvard Law School Professor Mark Wu, Professor Peter Van den Bossche from the University of Bern, Switzerland, and other experts gathered in Seoul to participate as either speaker date2023-09-01

Korea and Argentina discuss measures to bolster economic and trade cooperation

Minister for Trade Dukgeun Ahn met Argentine Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero on August 31 in Seoul and discussed measures to advance the Korea-MERCOSUR trade agreement, establish a communication channel for Korea-Argentina trade and industrial cooperation, and to strengthen bilateral cooperation in critical minerals supply chain and hydrogen. The two countries’ trade leaders agreed on the need for stronger economic cooperation in trade and investment expansion, and decided to continue w date2023-08-31

Trade Minister Ahn and U.S. Senator Young discuss measures to strengthen cooperation

Minister for Trade Dukgeun Ahn met with U.S. Senator Todd Young of Indiana on August 30 during the latter’s visit to Korea and discussed measures for bolstering Korea-U.S. economic and trade cooperation. Senator Young is one of the U.S. senators that introduced the Building Chips in America Act in March this year, proposing deregulatory measures for chip manufacturing plants in the U.S. and showing interest in strengthening advanced industries. He also partook in the launching of the date2023-08-31

Korea's retail sales grow 5.9% in July

The Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced on August 29 that Korea’s retail sales in July achieved an overall growth of 5.9 percent, year-on-year. Offline and online sales both expanded, by 3.9 percent and 8.1 percent, respectively, with July being the first summer holidays season since complete lifting of social distancing. MOTIE releases monthly retail sales figures based on surveys of 25 major retailers. Thirteen of them are brick-and-m date2023-08-30

Korea forms public-private cooperation system to secure high-tech chip packaging technology

The Republic of Korea’s Trade, Industry and Energy Ministry’s Industrial Policy Office Deputy Minister Joo Young-joon chaired a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signing ceremony for public-private joint semiconductor high-tech packaging technology development with a view to secure advanced packaging industrial competitiveness. Representatives of semiconductor buyer companies like Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) companies and fabless date2023-08-30

Korea to seek measures for nurturing local high-tech industries

The Republic of Korea’s Trade, Industry and Energy Vice Minister Youngjin Jang visited Entegris Korea, an MPE (materials, parts, equipment) manufacturer, on August 29 in Wonju in Gangwon Province and attended the Gangwon High-Tech Development Strategy Forum 2023 to discuss measures for Gangwon Province to contribute to nurturing advanced industries, such as semiconductors, bio and future mobility. Entegris Korea is a company specializing in semiconductor MPEs, including specialty gases, v date2023-08-29

Korea launches Global Star Fabless Project

The Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) held the Global Star Fabless Project launching ceremony on August 28 at the Gyeonggi Business Growth Center. One of the two major pillars of the chip industry along with foundries, the semiconductor design sector’s need for highly skilled technology and know-how serves to heighten its market barrier, with 90 percent of the global market shared by the world’s top 30 companies as of 2022. Accordingly, the Ko date2023-08-29

Korea holds public hearing on entering EPAs with 7 countries

The Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) held a public hearing on August 25 at Hotel Koreana in Seoul to gather public opinion concerning the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with seven nations, namely Kenya, Tanzania, Morocco, Thailand, Pakistan, Serbia and the Dominican Republic. MOTIE’s Deputy Minister for FTA Negotiations Roh Keon-ki stated in the opening message that “based on the experience of establishing a trade network consisting of date2023-08-28