[이데일리 김형욱 기자] Yeo Han-koo, head of trade negotiations at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, told Chinese Ambassador to Korea Xing Haiming (邢海明) of concerns about disruptions to Korean companies’ supply chains following the lockdown in Shanghai, which has been over a month, and asked for cooperation.
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According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Director Yeo met Ambassador Singh at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Seoul on the 29th and talked about it.
Each region in China is advocating ‘zero corona’ and locking down the region whenever a confirmed case of coronavirus occurs. In particular, on the 27th of last month, Shanghai, China’s ‘economic capital’, with a population of 25 million, started to take lockdown measures and has maintained it until now, raising concerns about Korean companies entering nearby areas. Our semiconductor, battery and automobile factories are clustered in Jiangsu Province, near Shanghai, and the normal operation of the factories is being disrupted in the aftermath of the Shanghai lockdown.
Director Yeo told Ambassador Singh that South Korea and China have maintained close economic cooperation for 30 years, and even if some areas in China are blocked, there is a risk of disruption to domestic industrial supply chains. At the beginning of this year, when the blockade of some areas in Shandong was taken, the Chinese central and local governments actively supported the Korean companies’ auto parts production and logistics difficulties. requested
In addition, he said that there are difficulties in corporate business activities due to the restrictions on flights between Korea and China due to the spread of Corona 19, and the need to review permission to operate corporate charters.
Director Yeo and Ambassador Singh also said that the two countries achieved the largest trade performance ever in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.
Meanwhile, at the Trade Tower in Seoul, on the same day, Head of Department Yeo reviewed global supply chain issues such as China’s zero-corona containment measures and the Russia-Ukraine crisis and discussed countermeasures with the Global Supply Chain Analysis Center, a public-private partnership for supply chain crisis response.
