Chey Tae-won calls for EU-style economic coalition between Korea, Japan

Home > Business > Industry

Chey Tae-won calls for EU-style economic coalition between Korea, Japan

Published: 05 Dec. 2023, 19:04

PARK EUN-JEE
[email protected]

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won speaks during the Trans-Pacific Dialogue, a forum hosted by the Chey Institute for Advanced Studies, at the Salamander Resort in Virginia on Dec. 4, 2023 [SK INC.]

Korean business tycoon, Chey Tae-won, who doubles as head of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), raised the need to form an economic coalition between Korea and Japan in a similar format to the European Union (EU) economic bloc.

SK Group Chairman Chey made the remarks at a forum, pointing to the shifting global economic landscape marked by China's rise as a "strong competitor in the whole value chain" from being a big market provider for the two countries' consumer products.

"[Korea and Japan] can actually be rather in complementary situations in many ways — the battery side, the supply chain and semiconductors," Chey said during the Trans-Pacific Dialogue, a forum hosted by the Chey Institute for Advanced Studies.

"Once we have a kind of a single market — a strong economic coalition, then we can actually achieve a lot," he added.

Chey noted that Korea and Japan had benefited from the World Trade Organization system, but they can no longer enjoy the benefit with the world economy marked by market division and economic security tensions.

"The position of China is changing. It used to be [that] China was a big market," he said, "but now they are actually strong competitors in the whole value chain, including energy sectors, semiconductors and electric vehicle batteries."

The chairman cataloged a series of shared challenges facing Korea and Japan, as he emphasized the need for the two countries to work together in an economic bloc.

Those challenges include low growth rates and aging and shrinking populations, which he warned could make the two countries unable to maintain their current standing in the world.

"We might need some other ways to solve these problems and an economic coalition is one way," he said.

Chey pointed to the EU as a model for an economic coalition involving Korea and Japan. The EU started as a small economic group, but it developed into one of the world's biggest markets, he stressed.

"The two countries can enjoy a lot of synergistic effects if we think really about an economic coalition in energies, semiconductors and batteries," he said.

The chairman also said that a sizable economic coalition in Northeast Asia could help ease security tensions in the region, including those from North Korea, as China and other regional players could join it to benefit from it.

"It could be another option to solve the North Korea problem," he said. "I know it will take probably more than five or 10 years."

BY PARK EUN-JEE, YONHAP [[email protected]]