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| Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong, center, Trade Minister Moon Sung-wook, left, and Health Minister Kwon Deok-chul appear at the Seoul Government Complex, Tuesday, to brief about President's Moon Jae-in's visit to United States last week. Courtesy of Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy |
By Baek Byung-yeul
Korea and the United States will launch a COVID-19 vaccine expert panel by early June to specifically support the vaccine partnership agreed to by President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Joseph Biden at their summit in Washington, D.C., last week.
"To support the Korea-U.S. global vaccine partnership, the two countries agreed to set up a vaccine expert panel consisting of government officials and private experts," Health Minister Kwon Deok-chul said during an online conference at the Seoul Government Complex, Tuesday. Along with the health minister, Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong and Trade Minister Moon Sung-wook held a joint press conference to announce results from the summit.
To address the vaccine supply issue, the two sides agreed to forge the partnership, and by combining the development technologies of U.S. biotech firms with the manufacturing capability of Korean companies, said they will work to speed up production and distribution.
Concurrent with this, Samsung Biologics signed an agreement with Moderna to manufacture the latter's COVID-19 vaccine at its plant in Korea starting in the third quarter. As first reported by The Korea Times, May 12, a health authority official confirmed that the U.S.-based biotechnology firm plans to build its own production facility here.
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| Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Moon Sung-wook gives a briefing on President's Moon Jae-in's visit to the United States last week at the Seoul Government Complex, Tuesday. Courtesy of Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy |
Trade Minister Moon Sung-wook said the Korea-U.S. summit reaffirmed that the country has become a core economic partner of the U.S. as their leaders agreed to strengthen supply chains for semiconductors and electric car batteries, and cooperation in the vaccine, energy and high tech industry sectors.
"The Korea-U.S. business roundtable saw the two countries reach a consensus for mutual cooperation to ensure the stability of supply chains in key industries as core economic partners," the trade minister said.
During the summit, President Moon and President Biden agreed to strengthen their countries' alliance by stepping up cooperation in various industries. Reinforcing this, four major Korean conglomerates ― Samsung, SK, Hyundai and LG ― announced plans on the sidelines of the summit to invest a combined 44 trillion won in the production of chips, electric cars and batteries in the U.S.
"There will be great opportunities for small- and medium-sized domestic businesses to export, while cooperation in high-tech research and development will also increase," the minister added.
When asked how China responded to Korean firms announcing massive investments in the U.S., Minister Moon dismissed concerns, saying investment plans were not designed to rule out any particular country.
"I don't think economic issues discussed during the summit were related to only a particular country or a decision to exclude a particular country," he said. "As China has the largest market for our exports and is a significant economic cooperation partner, companies have continued to invest in China. The government will continue to push for economic cooperation with important trading partners, including both the U.S. and China, to globalize the economy."
During the summit, the two presidents also agreed to broaden cooperation in the overseas nuclear energy market, which the trade minister said is expected to create synergy.
