Business Community Meets EU Ambassador to Urge Cooperation on Low Birthrate

Son Kyung-sik "Carbon Tax and Supply Chain Guidelines, Concerns for Korean Companies"

The Korea Employers Federation held a meeting on the 22nd with the European Union (EU) delegation in Korea. The EU side was attended by Maria Castillo Fernandez, the EU Ambassador to Korea, along with delegations from 23 countries. From the Federation, Chairman Sohn Kyung-shik and seven CEOs from member companies of the chairman group participated.

Chairman Sohn Kyung-shik stated, "Korea and the EU face many common challenges, including global supply chain issues, industrial transformation, and new technology development, so cooperation between Korea and the EU will become even more important in the future."

He continued, "In Korea, due to the serious low birthrate problem, the government declared a population emergency in June and is undertaking a nationwide comprehensive response. The decline in the working-age population and economic vitality caused by the low birthrate leads to contraction in consumption and investment and an increase in fiscal burdens, posing a serious threat that reduces the sustainability of economic and social growth."

Kyunghwan Sohn, Chairman of the Korea Employers Federation (sixth from the left in the front row), Maria Castillo Fernandez, Ambassador of the European Union (EU) to Korea (fifth from the left), and others are taking a commemorative photo after a meeting on the 22nd.
[Photo by Korea Employers Federation]

He urged cooperation to resolve social problems caused by population issues and declining growth. Chairman Sohn said, "The experiences of EU countries that faced population crisis issues before Korea will be very helpful to Korea," emphasizing cooperation with the EU in responding to the low birthrate.

He also said, "In addition to the population crisis, to respond to the major labor market transformation caused by industrial transition, structural reforms that can reduce labor market rigidity and strengthen corporate competitiveness must be implemented together." He added, "The Federation launched the ‘Labor Reform Promotion Team’ this year to improve laws and systems for labor market flexibility and to establish reasonable labor-management relations."

He pledged to create an environment that encourages active investment by European companies in Korea. He also conveyed concerns of Korean companies regarding the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism scheduled to be implemented in Europe in 2026 and the Supply Chain Due Diligence Directive passed by the European Parliament this year.

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