Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

Korea to unify charging method of electric cars

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on December 29 that it plans to standardize the charging mechanism for electric vehicles in Korea. The Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS) recognizes the need to integrate the charging methods of electric cars -- especially given the country’s growing market for EVs -- and believes now is the most suitable time to begin making those changes for the long run. There are currently five major charging standards recognized by date2016-12-29

Ministry hosts emergency meeting for export policy check-up after impeachment vote

Led by the Trade-Industry-Energy MinisterJoo Hyunghwan, the Ministry hosted an urgent meeting to inspect current export environment and to predict the outlook for exports next year on Dec 13 in Seoul with key exporters and export promotion-related organizations like KOTRA and Korea Trade Insurance Corp. in its efforts to minimize the impact from the parliament’s impeachment vote against the President last Friday.    In an opening remark, Minister Joo underscored growing unce date2016-12-13

Korean exports jump 2.7% in November

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that exports rose 2.7 percent in November, posting USD 44.5 billion, and  imports also rose 10.1 percent compared to the same month last year, posting $37.5 billion. Trade balance in November came to a $8 billion surplus, and recorded the largest monthly volume in both exports and imports since July 2015. The driving force behind this export growth is the rise of major export goods including semiconductors, petrochemi date2016-12-01

Data for Korean car industry shows decline in Oct

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy released on Oct 10 that the data for the Korean automobile industry  showed the downward trend  last month. The domestic production has declined by 14.2 percent, domestic sales has declined by 10.0 percent and exports has declined by 13.1 percent, compared to the same period last year.    The number of cars produced here  fell to 347,470 units in October, a year-on-year drop of 14.2 percent, due to car industry walkouts, typho date2016-11-24

Korea-Central America reach FTA agreement

Trade, Industry and Energy Minister announced on Thursday that South Korea, the fourth-largest economy in Asia, reached an agreement for a free trade deal with six Central American countries, including Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Panama.      It is the first trade pact agreed between Central American countries and an Asian country, the Ministry explained.   Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Joo Hyung-hwan and his counterparts from those six date2016-11-17

Ministry reviews Korea-U.S. trade issues in response to election results

Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a press release on Wednesday that it hosted an emergency meeting with other trade policy-related ministries at 2 p.m. (local time) in Seoul in other to review trade issues with its second trade partner in preparation for the victory of U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump who is known for his anti-trade stance.     Led by the Ministry’s Deputy Minister of Trade, Lee Inho, the discussion of officials in the meeting extended to the date2016-11-09

Korean exports fall 3.2 percent in October

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in its press release on Nov 1 that South Korean exports fell 3.2 percent to  USD 4.19 billion  compared to the same month previous year, while on-year inbound shipments posted $3.48 billion, a 5.4 percent drop. Accordingly, the country's trade balance last month stood at  $7.2 billion, remaining in the black for 57 months straight.  Main factors negatively affecting the exports performance included fewer working d date2016-11-01

7th round of negotiations for Korea-Central America FTA open in Seoul

Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that 7th round of talks for an free trade agreement between Korea and six Central American countries composed of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama, was open in Seoul on Oct 24 for a week-day run.    Yeo Han-koo, Ministry's Deptuy Director General of FTA, expressed hope that all parties involved will strive to make progresses for signing a high-level trade pact.   This round of talks will focus date2016-10-24