[Supply Chain War] ② Monthly 'Wonjeongdae' Dispatch... 99 Summits Held

Joining IPEF and Attending NATO Meeting
Setting the Stage for Multilateral Supply Chain Cooperation
Accompanying Large-Scale Economic Delegation to Explore New Opportunities

President Yoon Suk-yeol has effectively met with heads of state from various countries almost every month this year through overseas visits. This is a move to accelerate the diversification of supply chains amid the deadlock in US-China trade conflicts and the prolonged Ukraine war, which have fragmented the world.

As of the 15th, an analysis of President Yoon's summit meetings and overseas visits shows that since his inauguration in May 2022, he has held a total of 99 meetings with heads of state from 58 countries both domestically and internationally. Regarding overseas visits, last year he made only three trips over seven months, visiting six countries (Spain, United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Cambodia, Indonesia). However, this year, except for February, he has traveled abroad every month, making eight trips to 11 countries (Switzerland, United Arab Emirates (UAE), United States (twice), Japan (twice), France, Vietnam, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, Indonesia, India) to attend multilateral meetings and bilateral talks.

President Yoon will visit New York, USA, from the 18th to the 23rd to attend the 78th United Nations General Assembly. During this visit, he plans to hold summit meetings with leaders from at least 30 countries. Among these 30 countries are resource-rich nations such as Ghana (lithium, manganese), Colombia (crude oil, natural gas), Mauritania (iron ore, copper), Bulgaria (natural gas), Ecuador (crude oil, gold, silver, copper, zinc, nickel), and Slovenia (coal, lead, zinc).

Active Participation in Multilateral Meetings and Initiation of Bilateral Talks... Full-Scale Efforts to Overcome Supply Chain Concentration

Right after his inauguration last year, President Yoon raised the banners of 'economic security' and 'supply chain diversification' and announced South Korea's participation in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), which China, a major player in global supply chains, opposed. Following this, in June last year, he made his first overseas visit to attend the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit as the first South Korean president to do so, marking the beginning of efforts to break away from supply chains centered on specific countries.

During his second overseas trip in September last year to the United Kingdom, United States, and Canada, President Yoon emphasized the establishment of a 'global supply chain' at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, opposing regionalization and bloc formation and urging global cooperation and solidarity. Additionally, during his visit to Canada (ranked second globally in battery supply chains), the South Korea-Canada summit with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau elevated their relationship from a strategic partnership to a comprehensive strategic partnership and signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on supply chain cooperation. This led to further achievements during Trudeau's visit to South Korea in May this year, including the launch of the '2+2 High-Level Economic Security Dialogue' and an MOU on critical minerals supply chains.

In November of the same year, during the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and G20 summits, President Yoon visited Cambodia and Indonesia and launched a campaign to secure supply chains with ASEAN. He announced plans to engage in economic, cultural, and human exchanges and support based on the values of freedom, peace, and prosperity through the Korean-style Indo-Pacific strategy and the South Korea-ASEAN solidarity initiative.

Increased Frequency of Visits This Year... Accompanied by Large-Scale Economic Delegations to Secure Supply Chains

This year, President Yoon has significantly increased the frequency of his overseas visits while accompanying large-scale economic delegations, adopting a public-private one-team approach to securing supply chains. During his state visit to the UAE earlier this year, he was accompanied by an economic delegation of 101 businesspeople, laying the foundation for supply chain cooperation. The UAE, ranked eighth globally in oil production as of last year, signed cooperation agreements related to energy supply chains, including a joint declaration to strengthen strategic energy relations through the Comprehensive Strategic Energy Partnership (CSEP) and an MOU on the Korea-UAE International Joint Stockpiling Project. President Yoon also secured investment decisions amounting to $30 billion (approximately 40 trillion KRW).

During his state visit to Vietnam in June, President Yoon led an economic delegation of 205 businesspeople, the largest ever, and attended the Korea-Vietnam Business Roundtable, achieving 111 agreements, including the establishment of a critical minerals center, utilization technology, and MOUs on entry into the local resource industry.

In June, the European Parliament passed the 'Sustainable Battery Law,' which includes comprehensive regulations on battery design, production, and waste battery management, posing a crisis to the battery sector, a key industry. In response, President Yoon visited Poland, Europe's electric vehicle battery hub, in July with an economic delegation of 89 members. He held a South Korea-Poland summit with President Andrzej Duda, signing the 'Trade and Investment Promotion Framework (TIPF)' and agreeing to triple trade volume. At the South Korea-Poland Business Forum attended by President Yoon, an MOU on cooperation in supply chain stability was also signed, providing some relief.

'Value-Norm Sharing Countries' Including South Korea-US-Japan, NATO, and ASEAN Collaborate to Diversify Supply Chains

President Yoon is focusing his diplomatic efforts on supply chain solidarity with countries that share values and norms such as freedom and human rights. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy designated ten strategic critical minerals, including lithium, nickel, and rare earths used in semiconductors and batteries, and announced goals for supply chain diversification in February, when President Yoon had no overseas visits. Among the ten strategic critical minerals last year, lithium imports were concentrated in China (64%) and Chile (32%), and graphite imports were concentrated in China (94%).

In a surprise visit to Japan in March, President Yoon held a summit with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and agreed to lift export restrictions on three semiconductor materials (hydrofluoric acid, polyimide fluoride, photoresist) and establish an economic security dialogue between National Security Councils (NSC). Subsequently, through summit meetings with US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Kishida, President Yoon agreed on launching a pilot early warning system project to expand information sharing and enhance policy coordination against potential global supply chain disruptions, continuing trilateral cooperation among South Korea, the US, and Japan to conclude IPEF negotiations, and strengthening trilateral cooperation on critical minerals.

The ASEAN and G20 summits held this month are regarded as a signal that President Yoon has publicly detailed the South Korea-ASEAN solidarity initiative and begun full-scale global economic cooperation. At the South Korea-Indonesia summit and Korea-Indonesia Business Roundtable held in Indonesia, the ASEAN chair country this year, MOUs were signed on industrial cooperation in automobiles, steel, petrochemicals, an electric vehicle ecosystem, the establishment of a joint critical minerals research center, and agreements to strengthen cooperation on critical minerals supply chains and corporate investment promotion (MoA). Additionally, at the South Korea-Argentina summit, President Yoon received proposals from President Alberto Fern?ndez regarding local lithium mining and battery production. A senior official from the presidential office stated, "Through steady summit diplomacy, we will continue efforts to strengthen supply chain cooperation and communicate with countries with which we have not yet held summit meetings to secure new supply chains."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.