Korea unveils strategy to enhance rare earth supply chains
Published: 05 Feb. 2026, 15:15
![Vice Industry Minister Moon Shin-hak speaks at a public-private joint meeting in Seoul on the government's response to rare earth supply chains on Oct. 16, 2025. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/02/05/d946a4c3-f98d-4281-9264-a046feb5a44a.jpg)
Vice Industry Minister Moon Shin-hak speaks at a public-private joint meeting in Seoul on the government's response to rare earth supply chains on Oct. 16, 2025. [YONHAP]
The government on Thursday announced a comprehensive strategy aimed at strengthening Korea's supply chains for rare earth elements amid the growing importance of such materials that are critical in many advanced industries but currently dominated by China.
The comprehensive plan, the first of its kind, is centered on boosting the country's capacity in every stage of rare earth supply chains, ranging from the upstream chain of resource development to the midstream chain of separation and purification of the elements and the final downstream chain of turning the rare earths into usable materials, such as permanent magnets.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources said it has devised such a plan as rare earth elements are essential to strategic industries, such as the semiconductor, electric vehicle (EV) and defense sectors, but the country relies heavily on foreign supply chains.
In the short term, the government will work to expand cooperation with China, a dominant force in rare earths, and other countries with abundant reserves, such as Vietnam and Laos, to prevent possible disruptions to supply chains.
Korea will also seek expanded supply chain cooperation with major economies, including the United States, Japan and Australia, while participating in global supply chain initiatives, such as the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity, the ministry said. At the same time, the government will actively support private-led overseas resource development projects while working to expand domestic infrastructure for rare earth production.
To this end, the government will expand the loan program for overseas resource development projects to 67.5 billion won ($46.2 million) this year, sharply up from 39 billion won in 2025, and also increase policy finance.
For the internalization of rare earth production, it plans to extend support to companies investing in domestic production facilities and devise measures to increase domestic demand for such materials by prioritizing the stockpiling of locally produced rare earths. It will also put forth efforts toward facilitating an ecosystem of resource recycling to recover rare earths from used EVs and home appliances.
The ministry said the plan also includes a road map for independent development of technologies for separation and purification of rare earths, as well as those related to resource recycling.
Yonhap
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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