Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
Korea Post seeks rebound in international mailing services with postal allies
Korea Post President Cho Hae-keun, right, speaks during a CEO meeting of Kahala Posts Group in Bangkok, Thailand, Wednesday. Courtesy of Korea Post
By Nam Hyun-woo
Korea Post President Cho Hae-keun held a meeting for the international postal alliance, which is made up of 10 countries, Wednesday, to discuss ways to create a rebound in international postal Express Mail Services (EMS) between members, according to the state-run postal service provider.
Cho attended a CEO meeting of Kahala Posts Group in Bangkok, Thailand, which gathered heads of postal administrations from 10 countries. During the meeting, Cho presented Korea's current status of EMS and outlined future growth plans.
Kahala Posts Group now consists of 10 member countries — Korea, the United States, Japan, China, Australia, Hong Kong, Spain, France, Thailand and Canada — after the United Kingdom recently left.
The CEOs discussed ways to enhance the quality of international EMS and boost delivery traffic. They also agreed to resume a guaranteed delivery service between members by the end of this year.
Suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the service involves Kahala Posts members offering guaranteed EMS delivery between members and refunding fees in case of delays.
They also concurred on the importance of reducing delivery times and introducing new services using commercial channels for clearance to overcome the current challenges faced by international postal businesses.
According to Korea Post, the traffic of international EMS delivered among Kahala member countries has declined since COVID-19 became endemic. The year 2020 saw 26.15 million EMS deliveries, but the number quickly dropped to 18.58 million in 2022 and 17.2 million in 2023.
Korea Post attributes this decline to the global shift of international mail to commercial couriers following the pandemic. The prevalence of EMS services has not fully recovered despite the world reaching a post-pandemic stage.
"Postal services have to cooperate to develop new services in response to the decrease in international mail volume," Cho said.
"We will continue to work closely with Kahala Posts Group so that it can contribute to the progress of Korea's postal services."
The group was launched in 2002 by six major postal administrations collaborating to promote customer choice and improve service options for postal express and package services. The group's network accounts for almost half of the world's internationally recognized EMS traffic.
Their goals include raising the service performance of their package services, addressing current and future needs of customers and leveraging collective action and joint capabilities to expand business.