Korea and Japan Firms Forge Economic Security Partnership

The 31st Korea-Japan Business Conference held in 2024 (provided by Yonhap News Agency) The business communities of South Korea and Japan will seek to identify new growth drivers by combining their industrial capabilities to address shared challenges, including changes in the trade environment and instability in energy supply chains. The Federation of Korean Industries and the Japan Business Federation held the 33rd Korea-Japan Business Conference at the FKI Tower Conference Center in Yeouido, Seoul, on Oct. 23 and adopted a joint statement containing those plans. The meeting was organized with the aim of building a horizontal partnership for the next 60 years based on the past 60 years of cooperation. In his opening remarks, Federation of Korean Industries Chairman Ryu Jin stressed that the two countries should combine their strengths to develop new industries and markets, and presented three key areas of cooperation. Specifically, they included cooperation on international norms and economic security, such as a joint response to U.S. trade policy; strengthening supply chains and energy security, including the establishment of a mutual support system for key items in emergencies; and responding to common social problems such as the low birthrate and regional depopulation. On the Japanese side, Japan Business Federation Chairman Tsutsui Yoshinobu underscored cooperation to expand a free and open trade environment. He said reform of the World Trade Organization and deeper multilateral economic partnership agreements such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership were essential, and expressed expectations regarding South Korea’s application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. In the energy sector, the participants discussed practical ways to stabilize resource supply and demand. In the liquefied natural gas sector, they reviewed a plan to exchange volumes in emergencies based on cooperation between Korea Gas Corporation and Japanese energy company JERA, and to expand that into third-country transactions. In the hydrogen industry, they stressed cooperation on establishing certification, standards and safety criteria, while in the critical minerals sector they proposed stockpiling cooperation through the Korea-Japan Supply Chain Partnership. Participants also agreed on the need for a joint response to trade issues such as supply chain and advanced industry regulations in the United States and the European Union. To that end, they plan to promptly restart the “Korea-U.S.-Japan Business Dialogue” and establish a system to convey the joint position of the two countries’ business communities to the U.S. government and Congress. As a solution to the low birthrate, aging population and concentration in the greater capital area that both countries face, the participants proposed fostering regional industries. Their plan is to respond to the crisis of regional extinction by inviting local companies to the “Korea-Japan Startup Cooperation Forum,” which will resume next year, expanding investment opportunities and increasing the “relationship population” that maintains ongoing ties with regional areas. In a keynote speech, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Kim Jung-kwan pointed to supply chain instability caused by geopolitical uncertainty and called for a strategic alliance between the two countries. At the government level as well, he said support would be provided so that the two countries can seek cooperation in advanced fields such as physical artificial intelligence, drawing on their respective strengths.