Moon, Dutch PM vow to bolster partnership on chips

President Moon Jae-in and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Wednesday pledged to further bolster cooperation on semiconductor production, a crucial partnership in the global supply chain for the most cutting-edge chips.

Their virtual summit came as the two nations celebrate the 60th anniversary of bilateral ties this year. It is the third summit between the two leaders, following their two in-person talks held on the occasions of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics and a G-20 summit, both in 2018.

The Netherlands is one of Korea’s key trading partners, with direct investments totaling $588 million last year, the largest among EU nations. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, trade volume between the two nations surged more than 20 percent from $8.43 billion in 2019 to $10.21 billion in 2020.

Last year, Korea’s imports of semiconductor equipment alone reached $4.1 billion.

Dutch equipment giant ASML Holding produces extreme ultraviolet lithography machines that are necessary for making advanced computer chips. The machines cost more than $100 million each and Korean chipmakers like Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are key buyers, making up almost 80 percent of the sales.

The leaders vowed to work together to tackle the global chip shortage and extend their partnership into other futuristic fields such as hydrogen-powered vehicles, smart farming and city development.

The leaders’ meeting also touched on a slew of bilateral and regional issues, including climate change, vaccine partnership and the stalled peace talks on the Korean Peninsula.

At the end of the talks, Moon asked for the Dutch prime minister’s interest in the upcoming UN Peacekeeping Ministerial Conference set to be held in Seoul on Dec. 7-8, expressing his gratitude for the Netherlands’ deployment of some 5,000 soldiers during the 1950-1953 Korean War.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)