Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

Korea proposes technical committee for international MVDC standards at IEC General Meeting 2024

The Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS) under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) of the Republic of Korea announced on October 27 that it proposed the launching of a technical committee (TC) for the legislation of international standards for medium voltage direct currents (MVDC) during the IEC General Meeting 2024 held in Edinburgh, UK, through October 21–25. The TC proposal comes as a follow-up measure to the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)’s selection of Korea’s MVDC technology as a key future standards area this May. Following previous TCs for printed electronics (2011) and wearables (2017), the TC for MVDC is the third to be pushed by Korea. It is anticipated that the transmission of direct currents produced from harnessing hydrogen fuel cells, solar energy and such new renewable sources will substantially contribute to securing technological competitiveness in the global MVDC grid market. On the margins of the IEC General Meeting, KATS and the Czech Office for Standards, Metrology and Testing (UNMZ) entered a two-year arrangement on implementing standards cooperation including plans for a bilateral technical standards workshop on artificial intelligence (AI) and electric vehicle (EV) chargers, as well as launching a Korea-Czech Standards Cooperation Forum for closer standards collaboration, with a view to support the two countries’ comprehensive economic cooperation over industries, trade, and energy as a follow-up to Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s state visit to the Czech Republic this September.   date2024-10-28

Korea announces International Standards Strategy on Convergence Robot Technology

The Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS) under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) of the Republic of Korea announced today the Convergence Robot Technology International Standards Strategy (“Strategy") for supporting the Korean robot industry’s global super gap securing efforts. In line with Korea’s national standardization strategy for advanced industries announced this May, the above Strategy was established through the international robot standardization forum composed of related academia, industry, and research experts. With the acceleration of digital transformation based on artificial intelligence (AI) and 5G, the scope of demand for robots is extending beyond industrial uses to include a wider range of areas such as logistics, housework, delivery, and care service. In view of this trend, the Strategy outlines the plan to push 21 Korean Standard (KS) legislations and 16 key international standard proposals for mainly wearable, rehabilitation, and home service robots by 2028. Notably, the Strategy contains an international standard proposal on safety precautions for users of rehabilitation robots for the physically challenged, a joint research project in progress by the Korea Association of Robot Industry (KARI) and the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA). Accordingly, KARI and RESNA signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the joint development, utilization, and sharing of relevant international standards on the margins of the Strategy announcement.   date2024-10-25

Korea and Malaysia discuss energy cooperation in LNG, hydrogen, and CCS

The Republic of Korea’s Deputy Minister for Energy Policy Lee Ho-hyeon met with Petronas’ Gas and Maritime Business CEO Datuk Adif Zulkifli today in Seoul to discuss measures for energy cooperation. A Malaysian state-owned energy giant, Petronas is currently engaged in joint projects with Korean firms across diverse areas including liquefied natural gas (LNG), hydrogen, and carbon capture and storage (CCS). Today’s talks were held on the occasion of Petronas executives’ business trip to Korea. Sharing the view that stable securing of resources is crucial amid intensifying global energy supply chain uncertainties, both sides agreed to actively cooperate to this end. In addition to the LNG supply contract between Petronas and Korean firms like Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS), Deputy Minister Lee remarked that the two countries are also taking part in an overseas gas field project and expressed anticipation for continued LNG cooperation going forward. Moreover, he asked for interest and support towards the green hydrogen and ammonia project presently ongoing in Sarawak with the participation of Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) and Samsung E&A. Lastly, the deputy minister noted the Shepherd CCS Project in progress between Korean firms and Petronas for transporting carbon dioxide from Korea to Malaysia for storage and requested Petronas’ strong support for the collaboration, noting their governments’ ongoing discussions on prospects of entering a bilateral memorandum of understanding (MOU) to assist cooperation in CCS areas.   date2024-10-25

Trade Minister Cheong discusses sustainable development of global trade and investment at G20 Trade Ministerial

Minister for Trade Inkyo Cheong of the Republic of Korea is attending the G20 Trade Ministerial on October 24 in Brasília, Brazil, as Chief Delegate of the Korean government. Under the slogan “Building a Just World and a Sustainable Planet,” trade ministers engage in discussions on four agenda items: World Trade Organization (WTO) reform and a stronger multilateral trade system; global trade and women; trade and sustainable development; and investment treaties and sustainable development. During the first session, Trade Minister Cheong highlights the importance of the WTO-centered multilateral trade system, calling for members’ interest and support towards reforming the WTO dispute settlement system. Introducing Korea’s policy efforts such as the global acceleration program for empowering female entrepreneurs and promoting their wider global trade participation, he emphasizes the importance of inclusive economic growth. In the second session, he underscores the need to balance trade and sustainable development and urged the G20 members’ support for the Carbon Free Energy (CFE) Initiative led by Korea. Furthermore, he maintains that the WTO’s Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) Agreement will contribute to the sustainable development of developing countries, for which he stresses the need for its swift legal incorporation into the WTO structure. The trade chief will also have bilateral talks with counterparts of other G20 members to discuss pending trade issues. On October 25, he takes part in the B20 Trade Ministerial in São Paolo where he introduces Korea’s trade policy directions and preparations for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 2025. On the margins of his visit, he plans to meet with Korean businesses operating in Brazil and seek to resolve business challenges.   date2024-10-24

RobotWorld 2024 showcases latest eye-catching robot technologies

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) is launching RobotWorld 2024 from October 23–26 at KINTEX in Ilsan, organized by related institutions like the Korea Institute for Robot Industry Advancement (KIRIA) and the Korea Association of Robot Industry (KARI).  This year’s RobotWorld drew a record high participation of 291 companies and institutions displaying the latest robot technologies at 880 booths, held in conjunction with Boom-Up Korea Week 2024 to host trade shows, overseas market strategy seminars, and other export assistance programs.  At the center of attention are robots equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) as AI is expanding the scope of tasks robots can perform, introducing a variety of different robots such as humanoids, delivery robots, and guide robots. Upon a spoken request, Korean company AeiROBOT’s humanoid hands the person a candy of requested color using AI-based voice and object recognition, showing prospects for utilization in manufacturing and service sectors. ROBOTIS’ indoor delivery robot is able to maneuver through elevators and security doors with its AI vision and robot arms, exhibiting an increased range of autonomous movement. INTEGRIT’s large language model (LLM)-powered robot helps customers with hotel checkouts. A number of technologies are also showcased by companies that succeeded in localizing key robot parts. Tesollo’s robot grippers rely on AI vision to adjust their position and shape to grip objects. SPG displayed its localized robot reducer that can be applied to various different robots like industrial robots and humanoids. Early this year, MOTIE announced plans to support these endeavors with the aim of raising five key robot parts’ localization rate up to 80 percent by 2030. Based on the view that robots are the future growth engine for the next-generation, MOTIE intends to push several policies to help nurture the robot industry, including an anchor project for AI autonomous manufacturing, the “Humanoid Initiative,” and overhauling of AI robot laws.   date2024-10-24

Boom-Up Korea Week 2024 in full swing, enters 2nd week with trade show securing $235 mln in export deals

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) held a trade show on an unprecedented scale for Boom-Up Korea Week 2024 (“Boom-Up”) through October 22–23 at KINTEX in Ilsan, with the nationwide export promotion event now entering its second week. Launched over a period of two weeks from October 16–31, this year’s Boom-Up integrates 20 industrial exhibitions nationwide in conjunction with trade shows and introduces the new “Boom-Up Week” format for the first time through collaboration with Korea’s four major exhibition venues and key industry associations. Global buyers coming to Korea from around the world are provided catered services in terms of information and transportation. For this historic Boom-Up, KOTRA’s Korea Business Centers (KBCs) served as promotion channels for drawing 1,200 overseas buyers from 62 countries, including GM, Panasonic, and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), as well as 3,000 promising export companies and roughly 200,000 visitors. Exhibition booths for future mobility, nuclear power, bio, and other advanced industries took up center stage, showcasing high-performance hydrogen-electric hybrid concept cars (Hyundai Motor), world’s first commercial wireless communications and information systems for nuclear reactors (Ilshin EDI), and Korea’s first card payment platform for trade settlements (VISA).  In addition, visitors were able to experience a medical tourism promotion booth, free-trade zone (FTZ) business booth, and a one-stop export booth for bid participation assistance. MOTIE Minister Dukgeun Ahn visited the trade show booths to encourage export consultations and toured the local tourism program lounge introducing tours around Korea. The Boom-Up saw the inking of USD 235 million worth of export deals and memorandums of understanding (MOUs), the total outcome expected to reach $300 million considering additional contracts. In light of the recent global popularity of Korean culture, the Boom-Up is accommodating international visitors via diverse bleisure (blend of business and leisure) programs with tourist vouchers for lodging, local tours, and K-pop performances. Meanwhile, an MOU was signed among KINTEX, COEX, EXCO, BEXCO, KOTRA, Korea International Trade Association (KITA), and Korea Tourism Organization with an aim to nurture Korea’s exhibition industry for launching global-scale exhibitions like the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) or Mobile World Congress (MWC), as Korea is soon expected to rank among the world’s top five exporting countries. The Korean government will start the process of selecting applicants for this project at the end of 2024 to gear up efforts to activate a comprehensive support system for exhibition planning and consulting, attracting startups and buyers, launching sidelines events, and integrating tourism programs in step with global trends beginning next year.   date2024-10-23

Korea and Algeria to bring back Joint Commission after 17-year hiatus for stronger economic cooperation

The Republic of Korea’s Minister for Trade, Industry and Energy Dukgeun Ahn met Algeria's National People's Assembly (APN) President Brahim Boughali today in Seoul to discuss measures for wider economic cooperation between the two countries. The bilateral meeting was convened on the occasion of Assembly President Boughali’s visit to Korea, succeeding the Algerian president’s visit in 2003. As a follow-up to the recent Korea-Africa Summit (June), today’s high-level exchanges aim to strengthen Korea’s economic cooperation with Algeria, the only African country at present with which Korea is in a strategic partnership. Minister Ahn expressed appreciation for Assembly President Boughali’s strong support towards resolving the challenges experienced by Korean plant companies operating in the Algerian market and asked for the Algerian Assembly and government’s interest in Korean firms’ participation in Algeria’s social overhead capital (SOC) plant projects going forward. He also requested that Algeria’s recently tightened import regulations be eased, proposing that the two countries continue their cooperative ties for a forward-looking relationship through the signing of a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Assembly President Boughali stated that Korea and Algeria are mutually complementary partners in view of Korea’s advanced technology and development know-how and Algeria’s rich population and resources. He expressed hope for Korean companies’ participation in Algeria’s industrial diversification efforts, suggesting that they swiftly resume the joint commission that has been on hiatus for 17 years. Minister Ahn welcomed the joint commission’s resumption and shared plans to activate working-level consultations, maintaining that the two countries’ trade and industry ministries promptly enter the Trade and Investment Promotion Framework (TIPF) memorandum of understanding (MOU) proposed by Korea as a platform for trade and economic cooperation.   date2024-10-23

Toray Industries invests over $100 mln in key materials production for advanced industries

Korea's Director-General for Cross-Border Investment Policy Peob-min Ryu attended today the groundbreaking ceremony for Japanese company Toray Industries’ advanced materials production plant in Gumi City, North Gyeongsang Province. After establishing its textiles manufacturing plant in Korea in 1963, Toray Industries has continued to expand investment in critical materials areas such as high-performance engineering plastics, secondary battery separators, and carbon textiles. Toray Industries’ accumulated total investments in Korea over the last six decades amount to roughly KRW 5 trillion, the largest among Japanese manufacturers, and approximately 4,000 new jobs have been created in the local economy. During Korea’s Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Dukgeun Ahn’s visit to Japan in April 2024, Toray Industries pledged investment plans in aramid fiber production and this May, the company entered an investment cooperation memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Gumi City, North Gyeongsang Province, and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) for a ₩500 billion investment in advanced materials areas by 2025. Today’s groundbreaking ceremony announces the commencement of construction for Toray Industries’ extension of facilities for producing aramid fibers and polyester film through a USD 100 million-plus investment. Aramid fibers are a class of fibers of ultra-high strength and ultra-high heat resistance used to produce electric vehicle (EV) motors and heat protective clothing. Polyester film is a key material for producing multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCC) used to make parts for EVs, AI devices, and autonomous vehicles. The establishment of a production base for these cutting-edge materials is anticipated to help reinforce the domestic supply chain and boost exports. In a congratulatory message at the groundbreaking ceremony, Director General Ryu stated that the ministry will give full measure to support the successful implementation of Toray Industries’ investment through cooperation with Gumi City and North Gyeongsang Province and shared plans to nurture a stable and attractive investment environment to further promote global high-tech companies’ investments in Korea.   date2024-10-23