South Korea's Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs at Japan-US-South Korea Finance Ministers' Meeting: ”Supply chain disruptions should be addressed through trilateral cooperation”

"Supply chain disruptions caused by factors that threaten stable trade and economic order should be strategically addressed through close dialogue and cooperation among the three countries."
South Korea's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance, Choi Sang-mok, met with Japan's Shunichi Suzuki at the Treasury Department in Washington, D.C. on the 17th.
At the first Japan-US-ROK Finance Ministers' Meeting, which he attended with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and others, the finance minister said, "In recent years, geopolitical tensions and conflicts have become increasingly complex and commonplace, posing a lasting shock to the global economy.
"Until now, efficiency has been the top priority in multilateral trade, but supply chains have been strained by the pandemic and geopolitical fragmentation," Choi said.
"After experiencing the turmoil in the real economy, economic security has become another policy goal," he said. "The three countries will also work together to address financial instability that may result from such uncertainty in the real economy.
"We need to cooperate and proactively address this issue," he said. He also called for cooperation, saying, "By actively cooperating in the reform of multilateral development banks, we can tackle issues such as the climate crisis and sustainable growth."
"Starting with this first Korea-U.S.-Japan Treasury Ministers' Meeting, we hope that economic and financial cooperation among the three countries will be gradually strengthened and expanded in the future," he said.
"I believe that in addition to ministerial-level meetings, working-level cooperation will also be continuously strengthened in the future, and that we will create a channel for sharing information among the three countries and coordinating specific policy cooperation," Choi said.
"I also hope that the robust cooperation between Korea, the United States and Japan will continue in international cooperation frameworks, including the G7, and play a meaningful role.
"Continuous communication will lead to the discovery of new opportunities and proactive crisis management, creating a bigger and safer market."
"In August last year, the leaders of South Korea, the United States and Japan held their first trilateral meeting and declared their strong solidarity as people who share universal values.
"We declared that we will work closely together to achieve stability and prosperity not only for our peoples, but for the entire Indo-Pacific region and the world," he said, clarifying the purpose of the meeting.
Choi also expressed his intention that this conference should be held on an ongoing basis.
"In order to achieve this, we have agreed to establish and operate various channels of dialogue, including holding a meeting of finance ministers as part of this effort," he added.