Minister of the Interior and Security Sang Min Lee attended the inauguration of President Claudia Sheinbaum on October 1.
South Korean Minister of the Interior and Security Sang Min Lee was envoy of President Yoon Suk Yeol to the inauguration of President Claudia Sheinbaum. The minister gave an exclusive interview to El Economista .
- What message did you 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 been expanded to space technology, renewable energy and infrastructure, and cultural and people-to-people 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, some 430 Korean companies create around 150,000 jobs in Mexico and some 16,000 Koreans actively contribute to Mexican society. Mexico was the first Latin American country to which Koreans emigrated and the 120th anniversary of South 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 enhance trade relations and economic cooperation between the two countries and is looking forward to resuming 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 enable Korea and Mexico to diversify export markets and cooperate strategically on current issues such as supply chain reorganization.
In particular, cooperation between the two countries is expected to be further strengthened in relation to administrative digitalization, which will be promoted by the Digital Transformation Agency established by the new Sheinbaum government.
As members of the Digital Nations, the two countries actively contribute to discussions on the development of digital government in the international community, and Korea will actively support the activities of Mexico, which will assume the presidency of the Digital Nations in 2025, and continue to share experiences and knowledge on digital government.
Furthermore, I understand that the Mexican government is considering establishing a new civil registration system.
Korea has become a digital government power through the civil registration information system and will issue mobile ID cards from 2025, so cooperation in the field will be possible.
- What are your expectations regarding the negotiation of a free trade agreement between Korea and Mexico?
It is regrettable that the two countries have not yet signed the FTA, despite the strong trade and investment ties between the two countries, with a trade volume of US$19.8 billion in 2023 and accumulated Korean investment in Mexico of US$9.3 billion.
The two countries have announced the resumption of FTA negotiations in 2022, but negotiations have not yet progressed to a full scale.
If a free trade agreement between Korea and Mexico is consolidated, there would be a positive externality through nearshoring .
Korea is a country with experience in upgrading its industrial structure through economic openness, and Mexico is the best cooperative partner to maximize the potential of nearshoring and increase economic productivity, so I hope that related discussions will advance as soon as possible under the new government.
Claudia Sheinbaum's government wants to see progress in digitalisation. Korea has made important steps in this area.
The “Virtual Secretariat for the People” provides information on various public services such as education, healthcare, tax payments and transportation through apps commonly used in daily life, such as online messaging and banking apps, and about one-third (over 16 million people) of Koreans use the service.
The Korean government ushered in the era of online public services with the large-scale public service system established in the early 2000s. The use of various public services, from paying taxes to issuing various identification documents, has been made possible online, and this has improved convenience for the people.
- How has your ministry implemented this type of technology?
First, the Korean Ministry of Internal Affairs and Safety 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 the regional autonomous organizations, the general work system such as licensing in various fields such as culture, welfare, agriculture and environment has been standardized, making people's life and economic activities more convenient, while cooperation between the central government and local governments has been 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 Law in 2013, government-held data has been open to the private sector for more than 10 years, and more than 2,000 new private services have been created based on open public data, offering new business opportunities for enterprises. As a result, Korea has ranked first in the OECD's public data assessment for four consecutive times.
In particular, the Korean government is realizing the vision of a “Digital Platform Government” in which the people, businesses, and the private sector solve social problems and create new values based on a digital platform.
Digital platform governance 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 “Government as a platform”.
- Among other issues on the bilateral agenda is space.
The Mexican government has set a goal of launching its own satellite by 2027, and the Korean government also created the Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA) in May this year with the bold goal of landing on the moon by 2032.
As the two governments are ambitiously promoting the development of the aerospace industry, I believe that the potential for cooperation with the new Mexican government in the field of aerospace cooperation will be great.
Last June, 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.
