Chey Tae-won, the SK Group chair who heads the Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry, speaks at the annual meeting between the KCCI and Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Jeju Island, Monday. (KCCI)
Chey Tae-won, the SK Group chair who heads the Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry, speaks at the annual meeting between the KCCI and Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Jeju Island, Monday. (KCCI)

Chey Tae-won, chair of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and SK Group, has doubled down on his calls for closer economic cooperation between South Korea and Japan — comparable to EU-level integration — in order to jointly tackle global trade shifts and demographic challenges.

Speaking at the annual executive meeting between the KCCI and the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry held on Jeju Island, Chey noted that the two countries face “common challenges inside and out,” stressing the need for tighter cooperation between the neighbors.

“Externally, we have to respond to the global business environment and competition in cutting-edge technologies, while internally, both countries have many structural problems that need to be solved, such as low birth rates, aging population and regional decline,” Chey said in his opening address.

He stressed that the two countries need to move beyond simple cooperation and start designing the future together, calling for the courage to gather ideas from tangible areas and test them.

“For instance, both energy-dependent South Korea and Japan can jointly procure energy together, or share medical system (infrastructure and services) to address low birth rates and aging populations, so that we can ease fiscal and social costs,” he said.

He also floated the idea of passport-free travel between the two countries, similar to Europe’s Schengen Agreement, to boost tourism.

Chey in recent months has stepped up his advocacy for creating an economic bloc between Seoul and Tokyo, like that of the EU, to confront shared challenges and external uncertainties. He argues that a combined Korea-Japan market would be around $6 trillion, making it roughly the world’s fourth-largest economic bloc, with the capability to expand business opportunities.

JCCI Chair Ken Kobayashi echoed Chey’s view that the two countries need to cooperate to tackle shared demographic and economic headwinds.

“Protectionist measures such as recent US tariff actions are affecting the international economic order and heightening geopolitical risks, adding to global uncertainty,” said Kobayashi. “For trade-oriented countries like Japan and Korea to continue to develop, preserving and advancing a free trade system is essential.”

Kobayashi added that both countries face shared social challenges, including declining birth rates and shrinking populations. “Korea and Japan have long operated in a competitive framework, but I hope the coming era will be one in which we move toward cooperation.”

At the meeting, the two chambers issued a joint statement, pledging cooperation in artificial intelligence, semiconductor and energy — sectors they both described as key to strengthening the countries’ competitiveness. The two vowed to establish stable investment environments and supply chains in these areas. They also agreed to expand collaboration in addressing low birth rates and population decline, while boosting exchanges across the economy, tourism and culture.


sahn@heraldcorp.com