Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

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

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

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

Government to not tolerate local votes on Yeongdeok nuclear power plant

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) and the Ministry of the Interior announced their official stance on local residents' vote on the construction of a nuclear power plant in Yeongdeok, Gyeongsangbuk-do on November 05.     Both agencies asked the local residents not to participate in the vote saying "Any demands to turn over the decision to implement a national policy determined after voluntary requests of local governments and legitimate procedures through votes without any legal basis will not be tolerated."     They announced that: 1) The votes are not legally valid according to the "Local Autonomy Act" and 2) Any forms of the Yeongdeok-gun Office's administrative support including facility, human resources and funding for the votes which has no legal basis, and votes by town leaders will not be tolerated.     The government agencies further went on to say that they have proposed 10 different programs that are beneficial to the local residents on October 20 in reflection of their wishes and worries, and that these 10 programs will help the local residents protect their health and prevent them from their or their children's migration to other regions for reasons of education and jobs.     This announcement will be signed both by the MOTIE and Minister of Interior, and sent to each of the towns in Yeongdeok-gun in the form of a letter.     * Short version date2015-11-05