SEOUL, December 12 (AJP) - South Korea’s Trade Minister Kim Jung-kwan met Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao in Beijing on Friday, marking the first bilateral ministerial trade meeting between the two countries in seven years.
The talks followed the recent South Korea–China summit and focused on restoring trade momentum. The ministers agreed to resume regular high-level consultations to strengthen economic cooperation.
Seeking to expand economic engagement beyond goods, the two sides agreed to build on the service-trade cooperation memorandum signed at last month’s summit. They also committed to convene the FTA Joint Committee soon to review implementation progress and accelerate phase-two negotiations covering services and investment.
South Korea expressed interest in deepening cooperation with Chinese provinces such as Guangdong and Jiangsu, while China said it would dispatch investment delegations to South Korea’s Saemangeum region, the ministry said.
Supply-chain stability — including the trade of rare earths and other key minerals — was a key agenda item. Both ministers agreed to maintain close communication to ensure uninterrupted flows of critical materials.
Following the meeting, Kim and Wang signed a document outlining priority cooperation areas for 2026, including facilitating trade and investment events and strengthening engagement in multilateral forums.
Ahead of the talks, Kim met South Korean business leaders operating in China to discuss challenges facing Korean firms. He also visited Xiaomi’s electric vehicle plant to examine recent developments in China’s manufacturing and technology sectors.
* This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP.
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