South Korea looks to break China import dependence and establish ‘supply chain alliances’
- South Korea under president Yoon Suk-yeol is seeking to diversify trade away from China and boost ties with other economies in the Indo-Pacific
- But South Korea’s dependence on Chinese imports, especially those used in its world-leading electronics sector, will be hard to break
South Korea’s president Yoon Suk-yeol is gearing up to reorganise his country’s trade relations by reducing dependence on China and building “supply chain alliances”.
The world’s No 2 economy is by far South Korea’s largest trading partner, accounting for 25 per cent of total trade last year, followed by the United States’ share of 15 per cent.
But under Yoon’s new conservative administration – which is seen as more hawkish towards China – South Korea is looking to forge closer ties with a range of economies in the Indo-Pacific.
“We need to diversify imports,” South Korean media cited a high-level presidential aide as saying during a briefing on Thursday. “We need supply chain alliances.
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“It is an era where it has become important to build capacity to manage supply chains on a national level,” said the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “The government will manage the supply chain which is core to the idea of economic security.”
