Korea-Japan cooperation amid fragmentation of the global economy... Future Economy Forum held on November 3

Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Park Seong-jin = As the bloc and fragmentation of the global economy accelerates due to the competition for hegemony between the United States and China and successive wars, an event will be held to explore ways for Korea-Japan cooperation for sustainable growth.

Yonhap News, a national news agency, will hold the '2026 Future Economy Forum' at The Grand Lotte Seoul, Jung-gu, Seoul on November 3.

The theme of the forum, which is sponsored by Japan's Kyodo News, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is 'Fragmented global economy, Korea-Japan market connecting as one.'

Following the opening speech by Hwang Dae-il, President of Yonhap News, Taewon Choi, Chairman of SK Group and Chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, delivered a congratulatory speech.

On the Korean side, Lee Jae-jeong, chairman of the National Assembly Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, Kim Seong-won, chairman of the National Assembly Trade, Industry, Energy and Small and Medium Venture Business Committee, Jang Cheol-min, secretary of the ruling party, and Koo Ja-yeol, president of the Korea-Japan Economic Association, will attend. People Power Party lawmaker Joo Ho-young, chairman of the Korea-Japan Parliamentary Alliance, was also listed as an attendee.

In Japan, Ryota Takeda, president of the Japan-Korean Medical Association, Koichi Mizushima, Japanese ambassador to Korea, and Tsukasa Arita, managing director of international affairs at Kyodo News, will be present. A total of 500 people from both countries are expected to attend.

Following the opening ceremony, three sub-topic sessions will be held, moderated by Park Sang-jun, a professor at the International Academy of Sciences at Waseda University in Japan.

The lecture will be conducted in the 'TED' format to increase audience immersion.

In the first session, 'From a Korea-Japan competitor to a cooperative nation amid U.S.-China hegemony', Asan Institute for Policy Studies Chairman Yoon Young-kwan, who served as the first Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade under the Roh Moo-hyun administration, diagnoses why Korea and Japan must transform into a strategic cooperative relationship in a situation where the fragmentation of the global economy is accelerating.

Lee Sang-yeop, Chief Technology Officer of LG U+, which is strengthening cooperation with Japanese telecommunications companies in the 6th generation mobile communication (6G) and artificial intelligence (AI) fields, seeks ways to overcome the low growth and high cost problems commonly faced by both countries based on the company's case studies through economies of scale.

The title of the second session is 'World's Four Largest Economies, Korea-Japan Economic Community'.

The 'Korea-Japan Economic Community' is an idea proposed by Chairman Chey Tae-won at the end of last year to promote a Korea-Japan economic union using the European Union (EU)-style economic integration as a model.

In other words, if Korea and Japan form an economic bloc, the world's fourth largest economic bloc will be created with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of up to 7 trillion dollars (approximately 9,500 trillion won), giving Korea an opportunity to leap from a 'rule taker' to a 'rule setter'.

In this session, Lee Se-young, CEO of Lutton Technologies, and Hiroaki Ishiguro, head of the Global Strategy Division of Lotte Holdings in Japan, vividly share examples of cooperation between each company.

Lutten Technologies, an AI service platform company, became the first domestic AI service startup startup to become a unicorn company with a corporate value of more than 1 trillion won. Recently, it has been expanding its business into the global market with AI entertainment content platforms ‘Kyarapu’ (Japan) and ‘OOC’ (North America).

Next, Professor Emeritus Yang Ki-ho of Sungkonghoe University, who served as Consul General in Chugogo, will look back on the relationship between the two countries since the normalization of diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan in 1965, and propose to promote strategic solidarity between Korea and Japan using the 30th anniversary of the Kim Dae-jung and Obuchi Joint Declaration (2028) as an opportunity.

The third and final session of the forum was 'The future of Korea-Japan coexistence... Under the title ‘Joint Response to Hyper-Aging, K·J Culture Synergy’, we look at the possibility of cooperation in the social and cultural sectors.

Seigakuin University professor Haruki Ikumi, a Japanese expert on Korean society, analyzes the reality of Korea and Japan facing common social problems such as low birth rate and hyper-aging and suggests joint response measures.

Lim Hyeong-joo, a world-renowned popera tenor and chairman of the Yongsan Cultural Foundation, presents ways to promote mutual understanding through cooperation in the cultural industry and content fields and draws a blueprint for a new Korea-Japan relationship.

Chairman Lim entered Japan about 20 years ago and expanded the Korean Wave boom to classical and crossover genres. He played an active role as a private cultural diplomat, including a celebratory performance commemorating the 2002 FIFA Korea-Japan World Cup, appearing on NHK's year-end song program 'Red and White Song Battle', and a Japanese recital commemorating the normalization of diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan.

Previously, the 1st Future Economy Forum in 2024 highlighted the current status and challenges of Korea's high-tech industry using the keyword 'semiconductor', and last year, the issue of 'Korea's economic cooperation with Africa, the land of opportunity' was discussed.