South Korea, Germany share aim of diversifying from China, German minister says

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By Maria Martinez

SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea and Germany share the goal of diversifying away from China, broadening their raw material suppliers and reducing their dependence on critical products, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Thursday during a visit to the region.

Habeck was in South Korea on the first leg of a trip to Asia where he is also expected to raise China’s relations with Russia in Beijing and help manage the fallout of an escalating row over European Union tariffs on Chinese electric cars.

“South Korea has a similar economic policy to Germany, it focuses on trade,” Habeck said in Seoul. “It is a country that relies on markets being open and protectionist tendencies being pushed back as far as possible.”

Habeck said he also pressed South Korea to stop work on LNG vessels for Russia under contracts agreed before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

“But there is a good chance that these ships will not be delivered,” Habeck said. “That would be very much in the interests of all the countries that apply sanctions to Russia.”

Habeck’s trip came in the same week that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin visited North Korea to agree a landmark military assistance pact, with deepening defence cooperation between the countries raising alarm bells in Washington and Seoul.

“The militarization from North Korea and the cooperation with Russia with the circumvention of sanctions is of real concern for me and I think for the whole world,” Habeck said, adding his concern was shared by South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo.

Habeck is travelling with a delegation of small and medium enterprises from different sectors and the day started with a roundtable for companies.

“Half of them already have a location in South Korea, while the other half want to explore the market, want to understand how the system works and what market opportunities there are,” Habeck said.

(Reporting by Maria Martinez; Editing by Madeline Chambers and Alex Richardson)