South Korea

Yonhap | English | News | Nov. 26, 2025 | UndeterminedBizdev-Partnering

A South Korean government delegation from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport traveled to Vietnam on November 25 to explore urban railway cooperation opportunities for South Korean firms. The four-day trip includes meetings with senior Vietnamese transport officials and industry representatives, including Nguyen Tuong Van, Vietnam's vice minister of construction.

On November 27, the delegation will host the Korea-Vietnam Urban Railway Cooperation Forum in Hanoi, with approximately 100 metro officials and industry representatives from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Da Nang attending. South Korean rail organizations, such as Korea Railroad Corp. and Seoul Metro Corp., will present proposals on technology cooperation, training programs, and project implementations.

In March 2025, South Korea and Vietnam signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for railway cooperation, underscoring ongoing collaboration efforts between the two countries in the urban rail sector.

LG화학, '전고체 배터리' 상용화 핵심 기술 개발

ZD Net Korea | Local Language | News | Nov. 26, 2025 | UndeterminedTech Development/Adoption

LG Chem announced on November 25, 2025, that it has developed a technology that significantly enhances the performance of solid-state batteries by uniformly controlling the particle size of the solid electrolyte, a critical component of these batteries. The research, published in Advanced Energy Materials, was conducted jointly with Professor Tae-Seop Song's team at Hanyang University and is seen as a major step toward the commercialization of solid-state batteries.

Solid-state batteries replace the liquid electrolyte found in conventional lithium batteries with a solid electrolyte, which offers safety and high energy efficiency benefits. However, non-uniform particle sizes in the solid electrolyte can create gaps within the battery cell, leading to performance degradation. LG Chem’s new spray recrystallization method produces uniformly sized spherical electrolyte particles by spraying the electrolyte solution into fine droplets and evaporating the solvent, improving lithium-ion movement and reducing internal gaps.

The uniform electrolytes created by this method adhere better to the cathode material, resulting in about a 15% increase in basic battery capacity and a 50% increase in high-rate discharge capacity, a critical metric for high-power device applications. LG Chem intends to use this technology to accelerate solid electrolyte development and push further toward solid-state battery commercialization.

Shin Hak-cheol, LG Chem's Vice Chairman, highlighted the achievement as a resolution of a core challenge for commercializing solid-state batteries and stated the company’s commitment to strengthening its competitiveness in next-generation battery technologies and leading the global market.

“희토류 필요하면 여기 붙어”...중국, 미국없는 자리서 20개국과 결속

Maekyung | Local Language | News | Nov. 26, 2025 | Shifting Geopolitical Alliances

China has launched the Green Minerals International Economic and Trade Cooperation Initiative (Green Minerals Initiative) at the 2025 G20 summit in Johannesburg, attended by countries including Indonesia, South Africa, Cambodia, Nigeria, and Myanmar, but notably without the United States. The initiative aims to strengthen economic and trade cooperation on critical minerals, especially rare earths, by promoting sustainable supply, responsible mining, technology exchange, capacity building, and expanded investment and financial cooperation. China emphasizes the greening of the entire lifecycle of critical minerals, from mining to recycling, with participation also from international organizations like UNCTAD.

Premier Li Chang highlighted the importance of global resource security and the peaceful use of critical minerals while urging caution regarding military applications. The initiative is seen as a strategic move by China to reinforce its dominant position in the global critical minerals market and counter the US-led alliance of South Korea, Japan, and Australia, which seeks to reduce dependence on Chinese supplies. The absence of the US at the summit and China's emphasis on cooperative responsible trade can be viewed as efforts to ease supply-chain pressures amid growing geopolitical tension over rare earths.

President Xi Jinping's earlier call in 2024 for international cooperation in green minerals has now materialized into this initiative, signaling China's intent to solidify its resource network and maintain influence in advanced industries like electric vehicles, batteries, and semiconductors. China also linked this initiative to broader calls for cooperation on climate change, energy, and food security, criticizing rising unilateralism, protectionism, and trade restrictions—implicitly targeting US policies. Premier Li further called for reforms of international bodies such as the World Bank, IMF, and WTO to foster a more equitable and open global economic order aligned with the trend toward multipolarization.