President Park Geun-hye discussed with Alibaba Group founder and CEO Jack Ma how to cooperate in the cultural sphere and how to develop e-trade between Korea and China, in Seoul on August 18.

President Park said the Korea-China Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum was meaningful. The forum took place last month and was attended by President Park and her Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. Park appreciated the fact that the forum created a consensus between the two countries as both Seoul and Beijing agreed to extend bilateral cooperation, which initially just focused on manufacturing, to include the service sector and the cultural sphere, too.

In regard to the Korea-China Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum, the Alibaba founder said that he totally agrees with President Park. Ma said the goal of his Korea visit this time is to carry out market revitalization measures in a concrete way, according to the agreement reached between the two leaders.



President Park asked the Alibaba Group CEO to cooperate on supporting Korean small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as they penetrate the online shopping sector in China. She also asked Ma to help with deregulation in the cultural content industry in China, including broadcasting and films. She proposed that he help products registered at Kmall24 to be automatically registered at Tmall, one of the Alibaba Group's storefronts. Kmall24 is an Internet shopping mall for SMEs run by the Korea International Trade Association. In response to the request, the Alibaba CEO agreed to cooperate on and to look into the issue.

President Park and Jack Ma further discussed cooperation on e-trade between Korea and China. Ma said that the establishment of a logistics system, including distribution and warehouse services, is important for bilateral e-trade cooperation. President Park agreed with him, and expressed her will to provide support in that regard.

By Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Staff Writer
arete@korea.kr