On May 14, Acting Minister of Economy and Finance Kim Beomseok chaired the Ministerial Meeting on Economic Affairs and Ministerial Meeting on Strengthening Industrial Competitiveness at the Government Complex-Seoul.
* Participants: Acting Minister of Economy and Finance (Chair), Ministers and Vice Ministers of the Ministry of Science and ICT, Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Employment and Labor, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Office for Government Policy Coordination, Financial Services Commission, Statistics Korea, and Vice President of the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade.
According to the Current Employment Situation for April 2025, the number of employed persons increased by 194,000 compared to the same month last year; however, employment in the manufacturing sector showed a deeper downturn. Despite the tariff agreement between the United States and China, global trade conditions remain highly uncertain. Under these circumstances, the government will stay vigilant to secure the safe passage of the Korean economy through the tunnel of uncertainty. To this end, much effort will be devoted to making thorough preparations for trade consultations with the United States, while strengthening support for SMEs and small business owners. In addition, it plans to foster high-tech industrial ecosystems, including secondary batteries and artificial intelligence.
In particular, as U.S. tariff measures are expected to intensify export competition even in third-country markets, the government is reviewing the potential impact on domestic industries and corresponding response strategies. At the same time, additional support measures will be prepared for SMEs that are likely to face substantial tariff-related pressures. First, the government will introduce a one-on-one case officer system to provide tailored support to tariff-affected companies. For exporters to the U.S., an additional KRW 4.2 trillion in special guarantee support for crisis response and KRW 0.4 trillion in emergency operating funds will be made available. Furthermore, the government will work with major logistics companies to raise the discount rate on international shipping service fees from 10% to 15%. Monitoring of unfair trade practices will also be enhanced to prevent tariff burdens from being unjustly passed on to subcontractors.
With an aim to secure the continued growth of the secondary battery and electric vehicle industries, the government will strive to encourage the circular use of batteries. A recycling target system for the use of recycled materials in new batteries will be introduced while proactively creating demand for circular use batteries by distributing reused products to various sectors, including ports and rural areas. Not only that, in order to ensure a smooth supply of recycled materials, the producer responsibility recycling system, which currently applies to only 50 product types, will be expanded to cover all electric and electronic products starting in 2026. Also, low-risk waste generated during battery manufacturing will be excluded from waste regulations as part of efforts to boost recycling.
The government will swiftly secure 10,000 high-performance GPUs to accelerate the provision of AI computing services. Selection of cloud service providers will begin next week, with the goal of launching GPU services in October. This initiative aims to establish AI computing infrastructure by the end of the year to strategically support domestic companies, researchers’ development needs, and national projects.
At the meeting, participants discussed the following agenda items: The “Current Employment Situation for April 2025”, “Additional Support Measures for SMEs Affected by U.S. Tariffs”, “Analysis of the Intensified Competition in Third-Country and Domestic Markets Resulting from U.S. Tariffs and Future Plans”, “Plans to Boost Circular Use of Batteries”, and “Measures to Secure High-Performance GPUs”.
Please refer to the attached files.
