1. The Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom held a director-general level meeting on ways to respond to Brexit in London, the UK, on January 23.

※ Head delegates: (ROK) Kim Hee-sang, Director-General for Bilateral Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, (UK) Sarah Taylor, Director for International Agreements of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

o Participants from the ROK side included officials from relevant government agencies, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and the Korea Customs Service, as well as the Korea International Trade Association (KITA). Participants from the UK side included officials from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Department for Exiting the European Union, the Department for International Trade, the Department for Transport, and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.

2. Amid the rising uncertainty over Brexit after the UK House of Commons voted down the UK-EU Brexit deal on January 15, leaving open the possibility of a no-deal Brexit, the two sides discussed ways to work together in a range of areas, including consular affairs, trade and aviation, to minimize negative impacts that Brexit could have on economic cooperation, and trade and investment relations between the ROK and the UK.

o In particular, the ROK side requested the UK government to pay keen attention to the safety of Korean nationals visiting the UK, whose number reaches about 70,000 a year, and to resolve difficulties facing about 100 Korean companies doing business in the UK during the Brexit process.

o The UK side stressed that Brexit should not cause any obstacle to the ROK-UK trade relations, and asked for close cooperation to ensure that consultations between the trade authorities of the two countries on an ROK-UK FTA proceed in a swift and mutually-beneficial manner.

o In addition, the two sides agreed to establish a hotline between the ROK and UK directors-general in charge of the issue, share developments related to Brexit, including the possibility of a no-deal Brexit, in a speedy manner, and continue to consult on issues that require proactive responses.

3. The ROK Embassy in the UK will set up a Brexit help desk to support Korean companies and people in the country, and begin to operate it on January 24. The Embassy, in cooperation with the Brexit help desk of the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), will continue to make efforts to minimize the inconvenience to Korean nationals and companies.

o To do so, the ROK delegation, together with officials from the ROK Embassy in the UK, KOTRA’s Korea Business Center in London, and KITA’s Brussels Center, held a meeting with representatives from Korean companies doing business in the country on January 22. The delegation learned about difficulties related to Brexit-facing Korean companies, and discussed how to operate the help desk to establish an effective response system between related agencies.

* unofficial translation