Korea Post agrees to improve int'l mail service with Kahala Posts Group

Officials of Korea Post and the Kahala Posts Group pose after a meeting in Paris, France, on Thursday (local time). Courtesy of Korea Post

By Lee Kyung-min

Korea Post (KP) agreed to fortify cooperation with the Kahala Posts Group (KPG), to bolster international mail services and joint market expansion, the science ministry-supervised organization said, Thursday.

KP acting president Park In-hwan met with 11 CEOs sitting on the KPG, a group of advanced postal operators in the Asia-Pacific region, during a meeting in Paris, France, on Thursday (local time).

The group is an international alliance of the postal administrations of Australia, Canada, China, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Spain, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States.

It was launched in 2002 by six major postal administrations collaborating to promote customer choice and improve service options for postal express and package services.

Their goals include raising service performance of their package services, addressing current and future needs of customers and leveraging collective action and joint capabilities to expand business.

KP said the CEOs who attended the meeting discussed ways to raise international mail volume and share their assessment and outlook for the global developments in the international mail market scarred by years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Also among the agenda items discussed was bolstering cooperation to share individual strategies to better respond to changes in global norms, including strengthened customs clearance policies in the European Union (EU).

KP said Korea's international mail shipments to KPG member countries stood at 2.57 million in 2022, a further drop from 3.3 million in 2021, over the pandemic years.

The figures were a sharper fall from 4.64 million in 2019 and 4.77 million in 2020.

“We will continue efforts to identify a new sustainable source of income to offset years of losses brought on by the pandemic,” said KP Director General Kim Hong-jae.