President Yoon to Join IPEF... Virtual Attendance at Launch Meeting on 24th

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The Yoon Suk-yeol administration will participate as a founding member in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), a regional economic cooperation initiative promoted by the United States. IPEF, first unveiled by U.S. President Joe Biden at the East Asia Summit (EAS) in October last year, is an economic cooperation framework aimed at jointly addressing new trade agendas such as digital economy, supply chains, and clean energy.

According to the Presidential Office on the 18th, President Yoon plans to attend the IPEF launch declaration summit meeting via video conference on the 24th in Japan. The meeting is expected to be chaired by President Biden, who will visit Japan immediately after his trip to Korea. The government has been positively considering participation in IPEF and has been consulting with the U.S. and other related countries.

Furthermore, it has been reported that President Yoon is also considering expressing active support and participation intentions for the IPEF launch during his first Korea-U.S. summit with President Biden, scheduled to be held in Seoul on the 21st. In his first policy speech to the National Assembly on the 16th, President Yoon effectively formalized his intention to participate by stating, "This week, I will discuss ways to strengthen global supply chain cooperation through the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) with U.S. President Joe Biden, who is visiting Korea."

Foreign Minister Park Jin also appeared before the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee the following day, explaining, "There is a high possibility that this will be discussed as an agenda item at the summit," and added, "I understand that the actual launch of IPEF will be decided at a related meeting in Japan following Korea." However, Minister Park expressed the view that "China seems to have concerns about IPEF within the regional order." This is because IPEF is evaluated as an anti-China coalition aiming to exclude China from supply chains.