The Jean Monnet EU Center (Director: Kim Si-Hong) held an international workshop titled “The Korea-EU Partnership at a Crossroads” on Friday, September 12, at 3:00 PM in the Deokseon Hall (2nd floor, Main Building), Seoul Campus.
At the event, former EU Ambassador to Korea Michael Reiterer and former Korean Ambassador to the EU Kim Hyung-jin delivered keynote presentations. The designated discussants included Professor Lee Moo-sung (Department of Political Science and Diplomacy, Myongji University), Professor Yoon Sung-won (School of Business, Suwon University), Dr. Kim Bong-chul (President, Korean Association of European Studies), and Senior Research Fellow Shin Eui-chan (EU Institute).
Against the backdrop of current international developments—including heightened tensions in Korea-US relations and Russia’s drone strikes breaching the Polish border—the workshop explored new avenues for Korea-EU cooperation.
Participants highlighted that the multilateralism and rules-based international order maintained over the past 70 years are no longer effective. They emphasized the need to avoid trade dependence on countries with fundamentally different systems, particularly in securing critical minerals and rare earth elements as part of economic security strategies. As an alternative, the importance of revitalizing minilateralism and strengthening solidarity with like-minded nations—such as the EU, Japan, and Australia—was broadly recognized.
