1. The 15th Republic of Korea-European Union Joint Committee Meeting took place in Seoul on December 13, with Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Yun Kang-hyeon and Managing Director for Asia and Pacific of the European External Action Service (EEAS) Gunnar Wiegand leading their respective delegations.

o The meeting brought together about 40 people from the two sides, including officials from the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, as well as officials from the EEAS, the Directorate-General for Trade of the European Commission, the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Korea, and embassies of EU member states in the ROK.

o The ROK-EU Joint Committee Meeting has taken place every year since 2001 in Seoul and Brussels alternately. Since 2012, the role and function of the meeting, which originally dealt with economic and trade issues, have been expanded to become a comprehensive consultative channel that covers the full range of political, economic, security, social and cultural issues.

2. The 15th Joint Committee Meeting served as an opportunity to discuss measures to follow up on the ROK-EU summit, held in Brussels in October, and to step up cooperation with the EU in each area amid increasing difficulties faced by the Korean economy due to the recent spread of protectionism in major economies.

o The ROK side conveyed its concern that the EU’s steel safeguard measures could have a negative impact on efforts to increase mutually-beneficial economic cooperation between the ROK and the EU, and to jointly respond to protectionism. The ROK side strongly emphasized that the EU’s final decision to be made around January next year should not cause injury to Korean businesses.

o The two sides agreed to share developments regarding Brexit amid growing uncertainty over the issue, and to share information and hold prior consultations to avoid a legal vacuum in major agreements to which the EU and the United Kingdom are parties, including the ROK-EU FTA.

o In addition, the two sides reviewed the progress in measures to follow up on the last summit, including sharing cluster and SME policies, and other industrial cooperation, as well as cooperation in ICT, science and technology, shipping, and fisheries. Regarding regional strategies, they exchanged views on possible ways the ROK’s New Southern and Northern Policies and the EU’s Asia policy can work together.

3. The EU side stressed the need to strengthen international efforts to solve employment and social problems, and strongly urged the ROK to ratify the International Labour Organization (ILO)’s key conventions. The ROK side said that the incumbent ROK government was exerting policy efforts after making it one of its policy tasks.

4. The ROK side explained developments regarding the ROK government’s revision of the personal information protection act. The two sides agreed to continue to work together for the ROK to complete the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) adequacy assessment process as soon as possible.

o In addition, the ROK side said that with the approval of the amendment to the Restriction of Special Taxation Act at the National Assembly plenary session (December 8), the ROK carried out its plan to improve institutions, and asked for the EU side’s keen interest and cooperation for the ROK to be removed from the EU’s grey list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes (Annex II) as soon as possible. 

* unofficial translation