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Korea, China's Jiangsu Province discuss ways to expand trade, industrial ties

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By Yonhap
  • Published KST
Korean Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo, left, speaks with Zhao Yan, right, the Vice Governor of Jiangsu Province, in the city of Yancheng, China, Tuesday. Yonhap

Korean Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo, left, speaks with Zhao Yan, right, the Vice Governor of Jiangsu Province, in the city of Yancheng, China, Tuesday. Yonhap

Korea's trade ministry and the government of China's Jiangsu Province on Wednesday held a joint forum aimed at promoting economic and trade cooperation between the two sides.

The event also helped Korean companies ink $2.3 million worth of export deals with Chinese buyers, officials said.

The seventh Korea-Jiangsu business and trade exchange forum was held at Yancheng city in the eastern Chinese province and attended by some 400 government officials and business leaders from the two sides, including Korean Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources.

During the forum, Korean companies held more than 300 business consultations with Chinese companies, while dried seaweed manufacturer KwangCheonKim, HS Hyosung Advanced Materials and a number of other firms signed 11 export deals worth well over $2 million.

Jiangsu is the No. 1 partner region for Korea in terms of trade and investment, with more than 3,000 Korean companies, including Samsung Electronics, SK hynix Inc. and Kia Corp., operating in the province.

Trade between South Korea and the province came to $86.3 billion in 2025, accounting for 30.6 percent of the total trade between Korea and China, according to the ministry.

"Local governments of Chinese provinces possess economic scales comparable to those of individual countries, and each has distinct industrial ecosystems," Yeo said in his opening remarks for the forum, vowing Seoul's continued efforts to deepen economic cooperation with Jiangsu, and with China as a whole.

On the sidelines of the forum, Yeo met with senior Jiangsu officials, including Vice Gov. Zhao Yan, and also held talks with an executive of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group to explore ways to expand exports of Korean consumer goods, according to the ministry.