The Minister of the Interior and Security, Sang Min Lee, attended the inauguration of President Claudia Sheinbaum; the topic of digitalization is key in Mexico.
The Minister of the Interior and Security of South Korea, Sang Min Lee, was sent by President Yoon Suk Yeol to the inauguration of President Claudia Sheinbaum. The minister gave an exclusive interview to El Economista.
What message did he bring to President Claudia Sheinbaum from the President of Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol?
The South Korean president hopes to further strengthen bilateral cooperation in various fields, including economy, trade, infrastructure, energy resources, and digital government.
Recently, cooperation between the two countries has expanded to space technology, renewable energy, and infrastructure, and cultural and human exchanges are also active due to the Korean wave in Mexico and the growing interest in Mexico in Korea.
How do you evaluate the strategic relationship?
Mexico is a key ally of South Korea and the largest trading partner in Latin America. Korea established a strategic partnership with Mexico for the first time among Latin American countries in 2005. Currently, about 430 Korean companies create about 150,000 jobs in Mexico, and about 16,000 Koreans actively contribute to Mexican society. Mexico was the first Latin American country to which Koreans emigrated, and the 120th anniversary of Korean immigration to Mexico will be celebrated in 2025.
What would be the areas of opportunity for cooperation between the two countries with the new Mexican government?
The Korean government hopes to further improve trade relations and economic cooperation between the two countries and wishes to resume FTA negotiations under the new Mexican government. The signing of the Korea-Mexico FTA is a key task for the development of bilateral trade relations, which will allow Korea and Mexico to diversify export markets and strategically cooperate on current issues such as supply chain reorganization.
In particular, cooperation between the two countries is expected to further strengthen in relation to administrative digitalization, which will be promoted by the Digital Transformation Agency established by the new Sheinbaum government.
As members of Digital Nations, the two countries actively contribute to discussions on the development of digital government in the international community, and Korea will actively support Mexico’s activities as it assumes the presidency of Digital Nations in 2025 and will continue to share experiences and knowledge in digital government.
Additionally, “I understand that the Mexican government is considering establishing a new civil registration system”.
Korea has become a digital government powerhouse through the civil registration information system and will issue mobile identity cards starting in 2025, so cooperation in the field will be possible.
What are your expectations regarding an FTA negotiation between Korea and Mexico?
It is unfortunate that the two countries have not yet signed the FTA, despite the strong trade and investment ties between them, with a trade volume of $19.8 billion in 2023 and accumulated Korean investment in Mexico of $9.3 billion. The two countries announced the resumption of FTA negotiations in 2022, but the negotiations have not yet progressed fully.
If an FTA between Korea and Mexico is consolidated, there would be a positive externality through nearshoring.
Korea is a country with experience in updating its industrial structure through economic openness, and Mexico is the best cooperative partner to maximize the potential of nearshoring and increase economic productivity. Therefore, I hope that related discussions will advance as soon as possible under the new government.
The Government of Claudia Sheinbaum desires progress in digitalization. Korea has made significant strides in this area.
The “Virtual Secretariat for the People” offers information on various public services such as education, health, tax payment, and transportation through apps frequently used in daily life, such as internet messaging and banking apps, and around one-third (more than 16 million people) of Koreans use this service.
The Korean government opened the era of online public services thanks to the large-scale public system established in the early 2000s. The use of various public services, from tax payment to the issuance of various certificates, has become possible online, improving convenience for the people.
How has your ministry implemented this type of technology?
Firstly, the Ministry of the Interior and Security of Korea has established and distributed a “common regional administration system” used by all local officials across the country.
In addition to the general administrative affairs of autonomous regional organizations, the general work system, such as license authorization in various fields like culture, welfare, agriculture, and the environment, has been standardized, making life and economic activities more convenient for the people, while cooperation between the central government and local governments has become more efficient.
Korea also standardizes public data from administrative agencies and integrates and opens it so that it is available to anyone.
Since the enactment of the Public Data Act in 2013, data held by the government has been open to the private sector for more than 10 years, creating more than 2,000 new private services based on open public data, offering new business opportunities to companies. As a result, Korea ranked first in the OECD public data evaluation for four consecutive times.
In particular, the Korean government is realizing the vision of a “Digital Platform Government” where the people, businesses, and the private sector solve social problems and create new values based on a digital platform.
The digital platform government is a policy that actively utilizes the capabilities of the private sector and supports the strengthening of the GovTech industry ecosystem, highlighting the role of the “Government as a Platform.”
Among other topics on the bilateral agenda is space.
The Mexican government has set the goal of launching its own satellite by 2027, and the Korean government also created the Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA) in May of this year with the bold goal of a moon landing by 2032.
Given that both governments are ambitiously promoting the development of the aerospace industry, I believe the potential for cooperation with the new Mexican government in the field of aerospace cooperation will be significant.
Last June, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) and the Mexican Space Agency (AEM) signed a cooperative memorandum of understanding on the feasibility study for the construction of a space launch base, and I hope that the MOU will be the starting point for strengthening cooperation in the aerospace sector in the future.
Source: El Economista
