The Ministers of Economy and Trade of South Korea and Japan agreed to work towards deriving concrete cooperation outcomes in key areas such as advanced industries, hydrogen and new energy, and supply chains for critical minerals, marking the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries this year.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on the 30th that Minister Ahn Duk-geun and Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Yoshihiro Muto, held the 'Korea-Japan Ministerial Meeting on Industry and Trade' and reached this agreement. The meeting was established on the occasion of the '13th Korea-Japan Economic and Trade Ministers' Meeting,' which took place nine months after being held in Washington, D.C., last June.
During the talks, both sides highly appreciated the active communication between the governments and economic sectors of the two countries in key areas such as advanced industries, hydrogen and new energy, and supply chains for critical minerals. They also shared perceptions on the rapidly changing global trade environment, including the U.S. tariff war, and discussed measures to respond to this. Specifically, they decided to explore information sharing and cooperation on issues that require joint response from both countries, utilizing regional multilateral frameworks such as Korea-U.S.-Japan and Korea-Japan-China.
The ministers also agreed to cooperate for the successful hosting of major international events this year, such as the opening ceremony of the Korean Pavilion at the 'Osaka-Kansai Expo' (April 4-10, 2025), 'Korea Day' (May 13 in Osaka), and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministerial Meetings and summits on trade (May in Jeju) and energy (August in Busan), as well as business events (CEO Summit).