South Korea and China have agreed to discuss ways to expand service trade based on the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed during the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. They also decided to hold a joint committee on the Korea-China Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to seek ways to enhance FTA implementation and continue communication to facilitate the introduction of key supply chain items such as rare earth elements.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that Minister Kim Jeong-gwan visited Beijing, China, for two days from the 11th to the 12th and held a Korea-China Trade Ministers’ Meeting with Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao. This meeting was the first solo visit to China in seven years since the last Korea-China Trade Ministers’ Meeting in June 2018, and it was held about a month after the Trade Ministers’ Meeting in Gyeongju during the APEC summit.
During the meeting, the two countries discussed ways to enhance economic and trade cooperation, including follow-up measures to the agreements made during the Korea-China summit when Chinese President Xi Jinping visited as a state guest. They agreed to strengthen cooperation to expand trade, which has been stagnant since reaching a record high of $310.4 billion in 2022, and to promote mutual investment. They also decided to use bilateral and multilateral opportunities for frequent ministerial communication to discuss economic and trade cooperation.
The two sides also agreed to continue communication to facilitate the introduction of key supply chain items such as rare earth elements, given the close connection between their supply chains. They decided to support the smooth trade of key minerals such as rare earth elements through the active use of the general permit system based on Korea-China export control dialogues. The two sides signed ‘Key Cooperation Items for Next Year between the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Chinese Ministry of Commerce’ after the meeting.