Japan avoided the chaos caused by the urea water shortage, and the secret is - South Korean report

In contrast to South Korea, which has faced repeated crises in the supply of materials and parts, including urea, in the absence of a government control tower for its supply network, the Japanese government has already established a control tower to respond to the crisis. There is.
The European Union (EU) and the United States are also said to be far ahead of South Korea in terms of supply chain stability. In August 2022, Japan enacted the Economic Security Promotion Act, which was passed to the South Korean presidential office.
A control tower was created under the Cabinet Secretariat. This department covers all areas of the major supply chain, including products, services, and patents. Excessive dependence on specific countries for items that are essential to people's daily lives
In addition, items whose supply may be interrupted due to export restrictions in the partner country are designated as ``key supplies'' and managed. Established a budget of 500 billion yen (approximately 4.5 trillion won) for related technology development to support independence.
are doing. This can be cited as one of the reasons why Japan was able to avoid the chaos caused by a shortage of urea water supply, as happened in South Korea. Despite low price competitiveness and environmental problems, Japan
It is said that the country currently supplies more than 70% of its urea needs. In South Korea, there was a company that produced urea until 2011, but it closed down due to profitability issues, and for the next 12 years, all production was imported.
depends on. Lee Ji-pyeong, a specially appointed professor at the Department of Integrated Japanese Studies at the Korea University of Foreign Studies, said, ``In Japan, under the Economic Security Promotion Act, rather than leaving the supply chain of major goods to corporations alone, the government has set a certain level of responsibility.
``We are managing the country while providing support for the country,'' and explained, ``We are securing supply networks for not only strategic industries such as semiconductors, batteries, rare earths, and pharmaceuticals, but also essential items such as urea.''
. In the United States, the government does not yet have a comprehensive supply chain management system for all supplies. It is similar to South Korea in that when a problem occurs, a specialized team is formed to deal with the situation.
Ru. However, the government is promoting strong support measures, such as the Semiconductor Support Act and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, to encourage domestic production of materials and parts for all industries. Also, a crisis occurs
The country is said to be ahead of South Korea in that it sometimes uses the Defense Materials Production Act, which exercises strong national authority, and the president can secure financial resources through executive orders.
The EU has also recently allocated a budget of 145 billion euros (approximately 23 trillion yen) to reduce its dependence on the United States and China for about 100 items in six major industrial sectors such as semiconductors, batteries, and raw materials.
We are working on a project to invest in it. In addition, we will further strengthen the supply network within the EU, centered on the advisory mechanism under the EU Executive Committee, which currently plays the role of overall coordination to stabilize the supply network.
At the same time, we are also working on various legislations to achieve this goal.