Vice Chairman Lee Jung-ryul of the Personal Information Commission met with Kanishka Narayan, Parliamentary Under Secretary of the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, on December 16.
Lee emphasized the importance of establishing a personal information protection system and announced plans to provide institutional support.
Both sides agreed to continuously cooperate to support AI development and ensure safe data flow between the two countries.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy selected Chungbuk’s secondary battery specialized complex and Busan’s power semiconductor specialized complex as this year’s excellent complexes at the 2025 Specialized Complex Integrated Performance Sharing Conference.
Chungbuk attracted a total of 5 trillion won in private investment based on LG Energy Solution’s large-scale investment, while Busan successfully established the SiC power semiconductor ecosystem.
Noh Sung-hwa, Director of Industrial Supply Chain Policy at the Ministry, emphasized the continuous strengthening of capabilities as the specialized complexes evolved into innovative clusters in 2025.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration jointly hosted the Civil-Military Technology Cooperation Project Performance Presentation at the Daejeon Convention Center.
The event awarded various technological achievements, including laser cooling technology and ultra-small high-resolution infrared detectors.
The Civil-Military Business Forum presented the ’26 project plans and new research and development directions.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held the 7th 2025 Oil Conference under the theme of ‘Strategic Transition and Sustainable Growth of the Refining Industry’.
Kim Tae-hwan from the Korea Energy Economics Institute predicted that oil demand will remain at current levels until 2035, but oil production investment has stagnated, necessitating efforts to ensure supply stability.
The Ministry plans to focus on expanding the adoption of manufacturing AI, supporting investment in facility efficiency, and improving systems for using eco-friendly materials.

Vice Minister Park Jeong-seong held a bilateral meeting with the Norwegian Vice Minister of Trade and Industry.
The two countries discussed strengthening cooperation in response to the increasing uncertainty in the global trade environment.
They agreed to expand practical cooperation through the reactivation of the private economic cooperation committee and project-based MOUs.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor has confirmed and announced six newly developed National Competency Standards and 57 improved standards for 2025.
National Competency Standards standardize the skills required to perform tasks in industrial settings.
These standards were developed in response to the spread of new technologies such as AI.