Chey Tae-won: "South Korea and Japan should jointly purchase energy and connect power grids and gas pipelines"

【Financial News, Tokyo = Correspondent Hye-jin Seo】Chey Tae-won, chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and SK Group chairman, proposed that South Korea and Japan jointly purchase and stockpile energy, and eventually connect their power grids and gas pipelines. He also presented ways to implement a South Korea–Japan economic community, including joint funds for artificial intelligence (AI) and young people, as well as insurance products that would provide coverage in both countries. He urged South Korea to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
In an interview with The Asahi Shimbun published on the 8th, Chey said, "South Korea and Japan should jointly design everything from energy procurement and stockpiling to its use." He added, "Even reducing costs by just 3–5% would have a very significant effect." He continued, "In the long term, we should connect our power grids so that we can exchange electricity and link our gas pipelines as well."
Chey cited the costs associated with low birth rates and aging populations as a reason an economic community is needed. By jointly using infrastructure and services, the two countries could lower basic costs while fostering new industries, he said.
As a measure for private-sector cooperation, he proposed creating a joint fund in which financial companies from South Korea and Japan would invest in AI and young people, as well as developing insurance products that would cover people traveling between the two countries in either country. He also said SK Group was discussing AI and semiconductor cooperation with Japanese companies, including Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) and Tokyo Electron.
He proposed expanding people-to-people exchanges to the level of the European Union’s (EU) Schengen Agreement. Chey said, "We can gradually broaden the scope of cooperation by building successful examples that people in both countries can feel and establishing trust."
Chey stressed, "South Korea should also join the CPTPP," adding, "What matters is not membership itself, but showing what benefits South Korea and Japan would gain." He explained that because the CPTPP, designed on the assumption of the United States’ participation, has failed to secure sufficient momentum since the United States withdrew, South Korea and Japan should become the central axis driving the agreement.
He forecast that linking the South Korean and Japanese markets could create the world’s fourth-largest economic bloc, worth approximately $6 trillion. Chey said, "Protectionism and tensions between the United States and China are fragmenting supply chains and markets," adding, "If South Korea and Japan combine their strengths, we can participate not only in accepting the international order and its rules, but also in shaping them."
He also made clear that South Korea–Japan economic cooperation was not an exclusive alliance aimed at containing China. Chey said, "South Korea should be closer to Japan than to China—not for political reasons, but in terms of geographical distance," adding, "It would be strategically advantageous to expand the South Korea–Japan market before dealing with China."
He added, "Cooperation between South Korea and Japan will not make us strong enough to surpass or threaten China," and continued, "If we create a system in which both countries can generate synergies, it could instead help us build relations with China."
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