Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

South Korea running for ISO Presidency for first time

Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS), under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE), announced that Hyundai Mobis CEO Cho Sung-hwan has registered as candidate for next President of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The ISO is the world’s largest standards organization in terms of the number of standards published (24,000 standards to date), followed by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) with approximately 13,000 standa date2022-06-20

5th Korea-Singapore FTA implementation review

Trade, Industry and Energy Ministry’s Director-General for FTA Policy Yang Kwi-wook led the Korean delegation in the 5th Korea-Singapore FTA implementation review meeting on June 16 via videoconference to assess both sides’ implementation progress regarding the bilateral FTA enforced in 2006. The Singaporean delegation head was Director Tan Lui Hai of Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry. Singapore is second in rank among ASEAN nations in terms of trade and exports, play date2022-06-17

Minister Lee holds 1st Industrial Technology CTO Roundtable

Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Lee Chang-yang held the 1st Industrial Technology CTO Roundtable on June 16 at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) to gather opinions of Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) from semiconductor, secondary battery, robot, mobility and other major technology sectors, as Korea’s R&D investment approaches KRW 110 trillion. At the roundtable, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced the “new regime’s industrial te date2022-06-17

Korea joins Minerals Security Partnership

Trade, Industry and Energy Ministry (MOTIE)’s Resources Industry Policy Director General Ryu Peob-min attended on June 14 the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) inaugural gathering, which was held in Toronto, Canada and presided by Jose W. Fernandez, Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment. Director-General Ryu participated in the meeting together with Second Vice Foreign Minister Lee Do-hoon, where they relayed Korea’s decision to join. MSP is an date2022-06-16

Korea's May automobile exports gain 18.9% in value

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on June 15 that Korea’s May automobile output recorded a growth of 19.8 percent, while exports in units and value recorded growths of 19.1 percent and 18.9 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, domestic sales contracted 4.1 percent. The number of vehicles produced by Korean automakers went up 19.8 percent to 307,048 units. The growth in automobile production was mostly attributable to a base effect from semiconductors shortage, as well as date2022-06-16

Trade Minister attends 12th WTO Ministerial Conference

Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun attended the 12th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference (MC12) through June 12-15 (local time) in Geneva, Switzerland. As the highest decision-making body of the WTO for 164 member states’ trade ministers, the ministerial conference is generally held on a biennial basis, and this meeting has finally broken a 5-year hiatus after being delayed twice by COVID-19. The 164 trade ministers will have discussed food crisis, farming, pandemic, WTO reform date2022-06-15

Korea's ICT exports achieve 13.9% growth in May

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on June 14 that Korea’s information and communications technology (ICT) industry exported $20.2 billion (up 13.9 percent) worth of goods in May. Imports expanded 19.8 percent to $12.6 billion, and the trade balance was a surplus of $7.6 billion, a historic high for May. Outbound shipments of all major products achieved growth, namely semiconductors, displays, computers and peripherals and mobile phones. Semiconductor exports advanced date2022-06-14

Trade Minister holds talks on the sidelines of OECD 2022 Ministerial Council

Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun held bilateral talks with EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis and OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann, respectively, on the occasion of the OECD 2022 Ministerial Council Meeting through June 9-10 in Paris. First, Minister Ahn met with Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis on June 9, where the two trade chiefs discussed the Korea-EU FTA, digital, supply chain, environment and other new trade issues. Trade Minister Ahn urged the EU to closely coordinate with the Sou date2022-06-10