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 Jung-kwan visited Beijing, China, on November 11-12 to hold the Korea-China Trade Ministers’ Meeting with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao. This meeting marks the first solo visit to China for such a meeting in seven years since June 2018, following the APEC summit held in Gyeongju a month ago.
During the meeting, the two countries discussed follow-up measures to the agreements made during the Korea-China summit held during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit. They agreed 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 smooth trade of key minerals through active use of the general licensing system based on Korea-China export control dialogues. The meeting concluded with the signing of ‘Key Cooperation Items for Next Year’ between the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.