President Yoon's First National Assembly Policy Speech... Officially Announces IPEF Membership
US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Partnership... Strongly Aimed at Containing China
Key Agenda for ROK-US Summit... Likely to Launch by the End of This Month
[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Lee Junhyung] President Yoon Suk-yeol has officially confirmed South Korea's participation in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) led by the United States. This decision is based on the judgment that supply chain security must be strengthened through Korea-US cooperation. The government plans to actively discuss joining IPEF with U.S. President Joe Biden at the Korea-US summit scheduled for the 21st.
In his policy speech to the National Assembly on the 16th, President Yoon announced South Korea's official stance on joining IPEF. He stated, "I will discuss ways to strengthen global supply chain cooperation through IPEF with U.S. President Biden, who will visit Korea this week," adding, "The discussion will include not only supply chain stabilization measures but also various economic security issues such as the digital economy and carbon neutrality."
IPEF is an economic cooperation framework for the Indo-Pacific region led by the United States. Earlier, the Biden administration first unveiled the IPEF concept at the East Asia Summit (EAS) in October last year. During the process of concretizing the IPEF plan, the U.S. approached key regional countries such as Japan, Australia, Singapore, and New Zealand to gauge their willingness to participate. The U.S. also repeatedly requested South Korea's participation and cooperation since the end of last year.
IPEF is likely to be a major agenda item at the first Korea-US summit under the new administration. This is because President Yoon has directly emphasized joining IPEF, and the U.S. has recently accelerated the launch of IPEF following the ASEAN summit. It is expected that President Yoon will discuss with President Biden the possibility of participating in IPEF on a ‘modular’ basis, depending on the agenda. The U.S. has proposed four main pillars for IPEF: fair and resilient trade, supply chain resilience, among others. The government is strongly considering participating in all four pillars proposed by the U.S.
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IPEF is expected to launch as early as the end of this month. The specific launch date is likely to be on the 23rd or 24th, when President Biden stays in Japan for the Quad summit. South Korea, along with Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore, is expected to join as initial member countries of IPEF. Major foreign media have also predicted that the Philippines will join IPEF.
The issue is that China may oppose South Korea's participation in IPEF. The core of IPEF is to counter China. This is why labor and environmental standards, areas where China is relatively vulnerable, are included in the IPEF agenda. Originally, the U.S. proposed IPEF as a measure to counter the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) led by China. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the relevant government department, also reported to the now-dissolved Presidential Transition Committee on the 6th of this month that "IPEF was proposed in the context of countering China" and "there is a possibility of China's opposition if South Korea participates in IPEF."
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