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South Korea, Japan Meet to Coordinate on Energy, Critical Minerals

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Senior officials from South Korea and Japan met in Tokyo on Wednesday to further the Korea-Japan Supply Chain Partnership Agreement that their governments signed in March, the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a statement.

Korean Trade Minister Kim Jeong-kwan, met with representatives of Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and discussed ways to strengthen supply chain cooperation at a time with both exposed to disruption from the shuttered Strait of Hormuz and a growing need for critical minerals.

The parties shared their approaches for diversification and stability of critical mineral supply chains, reaffirming a will to cooperate in this area. They also agreed to deepen cooperation to ensure stable supply and demand in liquefied natural gas, crude oil and oil-derived products during crisis times.

The other main agenda item was their responses to the EU's regulations that will impose a cost for carbon emissions up the supply and manufacturing chain on goods imported to the EU, effectively holding non-EU manufacturers to the same standards as those enforced inside the bloc.

The two countries said they would take practical measures to coordinate their supply chains in relation to this, considering that both "share similar industrial structures".

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