Park Jeong-seong, Trade Minister at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources, said on the 24th that he would "shape a new framework for bilateral cooperation on par with the past Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) through strategic investment consultations."
Deputy Minister Park stated accordingly at the inauguration ceremony held at 10 a.m. at the Government Sejong Complex, saying that "the implementation of Korea-U.S. strategic investment has emerged as the greatest challenge and opportunity in bilateral relations."
Deputy Minister Park said, "The shift we face today in the trade environment is a historic transition in which a generation dominated by openness, efficiency, and the principle of non-discrimination is ending and a new trade order is taking hold," and diagnosed that "tariff, subsidies, industrial policy, supply chain clubs, export controls, and investment screening are emerging as tools of a new order centered on economic security."
He went on to emphasize that "countries with irreplaceable industries are chosen, but countries with only replaceable industries are forced to choose—that is the reality of economic security," adding that the core of trade policy is to create space in the global supply chain to realize irreplaceable industries such as semiconductors, nuclear power, and shipbuilding.
Deputy Minister Park said, "Both the markets where we procure resources and the markets where we export products need diversification, and this is an essential requirement for economic security," adding, "We will move toward simultaneous and widespread diversification more swiftly and more boldly than any other country."
He added, "Trade policy is not a dance performed alone by the Office of the Minister for Trade," and said, "Trade policy starts at home, and our strength at the negotiating table comes from inter-ministerial coordination. Let's take steps toward this change."