Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced that Korea, as chair of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) Crisis Response Network (CRN), is holding a virtual supply chain emergency mock drill today to bolster IPEF partners’ cooperation against supply chain crises and enhance their capacity for swift joint response.

The mock drill simulates a scenario in which partner “Country A” experiences a shortage in medical supplies amid a spreading global epidemic and requests CRN chair Korea to convene an emergency meeting for assistance in medical procurement. Through the simulation, IPEF partners aim to assess the contagion’s impact on the intraregional supply chain and seek cooperative measures for support among partner countries.

As it is the second mock drill following last year’s, today’s simulation has been designed to not only better replicate a real emergency situation based on opinions from the IPEF Supply Chain Working Group and partner countries, but also involve the participation of ministries overseeing medical supplies to heighten the effect of the drill.

On the margins of the virtual drill, Korea and Australia will be introducing to IPEF partners the details of their joint supply chain capacity building project. The two countries plan to provide catered education on supply chain management and crisis response policymaking to reinforce IPEF partners’ supply chain crisis response capacity. They will also be sharing best practices and discussing ways to improve CRN operations.

MOTIE intends to launch an in-person CRN mock drill in the latter half of this year, while actively engaging in pushing the Korea-Australia IPEF supply chain capacity building project forward.