Vaccine partnership to be discussed at S. Korea-US summit, says Cheong Wa Dae

“A key agenda for the South Korea-U.S. summit includes vaccine partnership,” said Lee Ho-seung, presidential secretary for policy coordination, on Wednesday. It is the first time for the Korean presidential office to announce that the presidential summit between the two countries to be held on May 21 (local time) will include COVID 19 vaccine cooperation.

“The U.S. has source technology as well as source and subsidiary materials for vaccines, while Korea has the world’s second largest bio-manufacturing capacity,” Lee said in radio interview with MBC. “By combining these two strengths, Korea can become a global hub for vaccine production. Discussions on this topic may concretize this opportunity.”

Lee explained that Korea intends to discuss the possibility of vaccine technology, production and supply cooperation plans between the two countries, by implementing technology and source materials from US vaccine producers on Korean manufacturing companies.

“Since we do not have enough vaccine supply to meet our vaccine administration capacity for May and June, we are currently discussing aligning of the vaccine supply. We will share once concrete plans are formulated,” Lee said, with regard to the possibility of early vaccine supply in June, which Korean Ambassador to Korea Lee Su-hyeok had mentioned on the foreign correspondent roundtable on May 10.


Hyung-Jun Hwang constant25@donga.com