사진 확대 President Lee Jae-myung and First Lady Kim Hye-kyung, who are on an official visit to Chile, greet children at a dinner reception for the Korean community held at a hotel in Santiago on the 29th local time. Newsis
President Lee Jae-myung, who is on an official visit to Chile, agreed on the 30th local time to pursue a revision of the Korea-Chile Free Trade Agreement (FTA) during a summit with Chilean President Jose Antonio Kast. The two countries also agreed to establish a ministerial-level consultative body on mineral resources cooperation during the summit. The move is aimed at stabilizing South Korea’s access to critical minerals from Chile and building an institutional foundation to support Korean companies operating in the mineral sector there.
At a joint press briefing after the summit at the presidential palace in Santiago, Chile, Lee and Kast announced the key points of the agreement reached between the two leaders.
The two leaders agreed that the FTA needs to be modernized in response to the growth of digital trade, the artificial intelligence industry, and rising demand for supply chain cooperation. They also decided to reactivate the Korea-Chile FTA Free Trade Committee after 10 years to discuss improvements to the agreement.
The Korea-Chile FTA, South Korea’s first-ever FTA, has not been revised since it took effect in 2004. The Free Trade Committee, which brings together trade representatives from both countries to assess the overall operation of the FTA and review possible revisions, also stopped meeting after its 10th session in 2016.
The two leaders also agreed to strengthen cooperation on supply chains for critical minerals such as copper and lithium. Chile is a major copper supplier, with the world’s largest reserves and production. Lithium, a key material for secondary batteries, ranks second globally in reserves at 24.9 percent and third in production at 19.3 percent. Major Korean companies, including POSCO, LS Group, and Korea Zinc Co., Ltd., are carrying out critical mineral development projects in Chile.
In an interview with EFE, the Spanish-language news agency in Latin America, Lee said, “Our goal is to work with Chile to stabilize the global supply chain for critical minerals.” He added, “Chile has the world’s largest lithium and copper reserves, while South Korea is a country with stable demand and a strong advanced-industry base.”
In connection with the visit, the two countries signed a total of five MOUs, including a mineral resources partnership MOU between South Korea’s Ministry of Trade and Industry and Chile’s Ministry of Mining.
Meanwhile, the Blue House carried out a large-scale personnel reshuffle, promoting more than 60 people, including secretaries, administrative officers, and administrative staff, for the first time since the launch of the Lee Jae-myung administration.
Han Sang-ik, senior secretary for state affairs, Choi Seong-a, senior secretary for foreign media, and Kim Woo-chang, senior secretary for national AI policy, will step down as part of the reshuffle. Kim Rak-joong, a senior administrative officer in the office of the senior secretary for state affairs, is expected to be promoted from within as Han’s successor.
Kim, who is considered part of the Seongnam-Gyeonggi network, will take over as senior secretary for state affairs starting on the 31st. Lee Seung-won, a former adjunct professor at Hanyang University and a journalist-turned-current-affairs commentator, is reportedly set to succeed Choi.
[Santiago, Oh Soo-hyun / Seoul, Seong Seung-hoon]
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.