From Policy to Action: The Way Ahead for the EU-Republic of Korea Digital Partnership

CSDS POLICY BRIEF • 1/2025

By Raluca Csernatoni and Eva Pejsova 

9.1.2025

Key issues

• The European Union (EU)-Republic of Korea (ROK) Digital Partnership Agreement (DPA) vowed to enhance bilateral cooperation in high-tech sectors such as artificial intelligence (AI), quantum technologies, advanced semiconductors, next-generation mobile networks and cybersecurity.
• While the Partnership established ambitious goals, the DPA’s non-binding nature necessitates a concerted effort toward actionable steps and effective implementation, plus a need to address supply chain vulnerabilities, cyber threats and technological gaps.
• Building on the DPA, Horizon Europe could provide an essential framework to integrate bilateral research and innovation, thus ensuring tangible outcomes from joint projects, including advancing shared values and standards.

 

Introduction

In November 2022, the EU concluded a Digital Partnership Agreement with the ROK, following the first such agreement with Japan in May of the same year. Adding to the series of political milestones, the DPA underlines the two like-minded partners’ shared vision for the future of digital cooperation, human-centric innovation and a willingness to enhance bilateral ties in a key strategic area that will determine the future of geopolitical competition. Importantly, it reflects the growing importance of cooperation in an era of AI-powered digital transformation and geopolitical realignments.

For the EU, the Digital Partnership highlights the bloc’s commitment to digital diplomacy and effort to further its footprint in the Indo-Pacific, a region critical to global digital value chains, evolving security dynamics and intensifying geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and China. Indeed, it opens the doors to bolster diplomatic, investment, trade and security ties, not only bilaterally but also in multilateral or multilateral formats in the region. For the ROK, the DPA diversifies bilateral relations and strategic alliances beyond the country’s traditional reliance on the US, and it showcases its role as a digital leader in key high-tech sectors globally.

Moving forward, the Digital Partnership aims to enhance the cooperation between the two partners in a wide array of technological domains, from semiconductors, next-generation mobile networks, quantum and High-Performance Computing (HPC), cybersecurity, AI, digital platforms, technological standardisation and data to digital skills. However, despite its ambitious agenda, the DPA’s non-binding nature poses challenges. Both partners must now translate the existing political framework into actionable results and display tangible benefits, especially in areas such as cybersecurity, digital standards and supply chain resilience.

This CSDS Policy Brief traces the developments of the EU-ROK DPA and assesses its added-value in a context of heightened geopolitical and geo-economic tensions. It maps some of the concrete achievements and initiatives put in place so far and analyses the challenges that lie ahead. Finally, it suggests concrete, actionable steps that should be prioritised to carry the implementation of the partnership forward.

A blueprint for digital cooperation

The relationship with the ROK is by far one of the EU’s most advanced and politically significant in the Indo-Pacific. The ROK was the first regional partner to conclude a Free Trade Agreement with the EU already in 2011, as well as the first “Framework Participation Agreement”, allowing it to take part in the EU’s crisis management operations in 2016. Strategic partners since 2014, bilateral cooperation has blossomed in a plethora of domains, including the most strategically significant ones, such as trade, with the ROK being the EU’s eighth largest trading partner in goods, whereas the EU is the ROK’s third largest trading partner in goods. Needless to say, the ROK – despite its political constraints – has been one of the most active supporters of Ukraine’s war efforts through the provision of financial and non-lethal military assistance, as well as ammunition through US and NATO channels, among others.

Yet, it is new technologies that increasingly define the contours of the global order. The ability to access, develop and govern cutting-edge technologies has become not only a prerequisite for boosting economic competitiveness but a key strategic advantage in a particularly volatile global security context. At the EU-ROK Summit in May 2023, marking the 60^th anniversary of bilateral ties, the leaders reaffirmed the strategic importance of their partnership, emphasising the need to deepen collaboration under the EU-ROK Digital Partnership in an increasingly interconnected world. Indeed, digital cooperation needs to be read against both partners’ respective strategic considerations, mostly related to securing their digital supply chains, boosting technological and economic competitiveness and promoting responsible digital governance globally.

In many ways, the EU-ROK Digital Partnership aligns closely with both parties’ broader strategic objectives. In the EU’s case, it complements the bloc’s pursuit of ‘technological sovereignty and strategic autonomy’ by aiming to reduce external dependencies and strengthen economic security. The ROK supports its vision of becoming a ‘Global Pivotal State’, enhancing its global influence through diversified partnerships. The Digital Partnership also reinforces the EU’s broader engagement in the Indo-Pacific, a region of growing strategic importance. By aligning with the ROK, the EU thus enhances its ability to address global challenges such as supply chain vulnerabilities, cybersecurity threats and fierce technological competition playing out between the US and China.

Indeed, new and emerging technologies have become a battleground for technological supremacy. The Covid-19 pandemic exposed vulnerabilities in global supply chains, particularly for semiconductors. The DPA provides a platform for a better exchange of information on the semiconductor supply chain and expands future cooperation on secure digital infrastructure, including submarine cables. Ensuring smooth data flows through the harmonisation of standards, data protection and mutual recognition of standards is another key benefit, essential to boosting trade between the two partners. In this respect, the EU’s recognition of the ROK’s data protection standards facilitates smoother data flows and sets a precedent for multilateral cooperation. Cybersecurity is another acute priority for both partners, facing increasing threats from China, North Korea and Russia.

Finally, the Partnership can be most useful in promoting multilateral digital governance. For Seoul, the agreement serves not only to diversify partners and open additional economic opportunities but also to access the EU’s regulatory expertise. While Europe may not necessarily be perceived as technologically more advanced, its reputation as a “normative power” is very much in line with now-impeached President Yoon’s values-based foreign policy, which emphasises the promotion of democracy, human rights and the rule of law as South Korea’s global trademark. The EU’s efforts to promote global norms for human-centric and responsible governance of technologies are positively perceived among Indo-Pacific partners, allowing Brussels to project its regulatory frameworks globally while addressing strategic vulnerabilities in critical technological domains at home.

Achievements to date

The EU-ROK Digital Partnership is built on a shared understanding of the opportunities and risks of the digital age, focusing on concrete outcomes in key technological areas rather than binding commitments. It is rooted in pre-existing frameworks such as the 2006 Agreement on Scientific and Technological Cooperation between the European Community and the Government of the Republic of Korea, which enabled mutual access to research and technological development programmes, information sharing, exchange of scientific personnel and the establishment of a Joint Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation.

The EU and the ROK held their first Digital Partnership Council in June 2023. During the ministerial meeting in Seoul, the partners agreed to advance cooperation for an inclusive and resilient digital transformation, in areas such as Emerging and Disruptive Technologies (EDTs), semiconductors, HPC and quantum technologies, 5G and beyond, the platform economy, AI and cybersecurity. The second Council meeting, which took place in Brussels in March 2024, reaffirmed the need to continue cooperation in the same areas, adding secure network connectivity and strengthening the semiconductor supply chain as a key priority.

Horizon Europe, the EU’s flagship research and innovation programme, plays a critical role in facilitating further collaboration between both sides. Associating the ROK with the Horizon Europe programme will further facilitate access to funding and research networks, enabling joint projects across critical priority areas such as quantum technologies and HPC. The Association Agreement will enable the ROK’s participation in Horizon Europe in Pillar II, “Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness”, as of January 2025.

Since its launch, the EU-ROK Digital Partnership has already made meaningful progress across several key domains. While these achievements highlight the potential of bilateral cooperation, they also reveal challenges that must be addressed for deeper integration, tangible outcomes, and lasting impact. First, a cornerstone of the Partnership is its emphasis on advancing cooperation in cutting-edge technologies. The ROK-EU Forum for Semiconductor Researchers, a critical platform for collaboration, fosters research in complementary areas and facilitates information sharing on global semiconductor supply chains. For instance, the EU and the ROK announced support for four jointly funded semiconductor projects as a deliverable of the Digital Partnership. Similarly, the Quantum Expert Group, proposed during the first Digital Partnership Council, aims to drive innovation by identifying common research topics that could be the basis of joint research cooperation.

Second, in the field of HPC the EU and the ROK are working on applications that address shared priorities, such as extreme weather modelling and material science. Both sides have committed to improving researchers’ access to their respective HPC infrastructures to support this collaboration. Moreover, the Partnership has made significant strides in building a shared vision for 6G technologies and increasing cooperation around AI. In the areas of 5G and 6G, the EU and ROK have launched a call for proposals on research topics in the fields of Radio Access Networks (RAN) and 6G technology.

Third, AI is a central focus of the Digital Partnership. With the establishment of a permanent dialogue enabling regular updates and collaboration in initiatives for human-centric and trustworthy AI, both partners are working on developing shared approaches to ethical AI governance, including Large Language Models (LLMs). Both partners also share a similar vision for a fair and secure online environment and will continue implementing the principles of the Declaration for the Future of Internet in line with the European Declaration on digital rights and principles.

Challenges ahead

Despite some considerable advancements, the Digital Partnership still faces several challenges, both in terms of the implementation of the disparities of both partners’ EDT capacities but also at the broader structural and domestic political levels:

– Implementation gaps: joint initiatives rely on forums, ad hoc funding and research group coordination. Given the scale and complexity of some EDT projects required for achieving a lasting impact – especially in the case of semiconductors, AI LLMs or quantum technologies –, their sustainability in the long-term is questionable. Clearer timelines and consistent institutional and financial support are necessary to turn these socialisation platforms into lasting collaborations with tangible outcomes, like in the case of the four jointly funded semiconductor projects. While the DPA provides flexibility, its non-binding nature poses risks to long-term commitments. That is why initiatives like Horizon Europe could provide more robust coordination, including clearer timelines and accountability for joint projects.

– The evolving nature of threats: the rapid evolution of cyber threats, also powered by AI systems and the advent of quantum technologies, demands adaptive and forward-looking responses, not least strategic alignment and trust. Both partners must make sure their collaboration includes real-time threat analysis and intelligence sharing, joint exercises and innovative countermeasures to stay ahead of malicious actors.

– Competitiveness and disparities in EDTs: the “Draghi Report” on the future of European competitiveness highlights a critical challenge in the EU’s relatively weak technological and industrial base, especially in key EDTs. While the ROK excels in semiconductors, advanced manufacturing and AI, the Union faces growing gaps in these domains. Moreover, challenges persist in outlining common regulatory and normative frameworks in the case of AI. While both sides agree on the importance of trustworthy AI, differences in their respective regulatory and industrial environments could hinder further alignment.

– Geopolitical balancing: ROK’s economic interdependence with China and its strategic reliance on the United States creates a complex geopolitical balancing act. Similarly, the EU must navigate its transatlantic ties in view of President Donald Trump’s re-election while also pursuing greater strategic autonomy in technology and security. These geopolitical pressures could create friction, distract both partners’ attention and impede the DPA’s progress.

– Domestic politics: neither the EU nor ROK are safe from domestic instability. The recent political turmoil that has shaken the ROK following President Yoon’s unexpected proclamation of martial law and impeachment underscores the fragility and the possible impact of domestic political setbacks on advancing functional cooperation. Without formal obligations and enforcement mechanisms, the DPA currently relies too heavily on sustained political commitment. Future administrations could, for instance, deprioritise such initiatives, thus jeopardising their long-term impact.

Moving from policy to action: some policy recommendations

To guarantee the success of the Digital Partnership, the EU and ROK must further prioritise actionable steps.

• Deepen cybersecurity cooperation
  • Establish permanent channels for real-time information sharing and threat assessment;
  • Conduct joint cybersecurity exercises to strengthen resilience against hybrid threats.

• Accelerate EDT collaboration
  • Focus on high-impact projects in priority areas, such as semiconductors, generative AI models and quantum technologies;
  • Leverage Horizon Europe to fund initiatives with measurable outcomes.

• Strengthen supply chain resilience
  • Expand collaboration in semiconductor and battery production to reduce the reliance on single-source suppliers.

• Enhance public-private partnerships
  • Facilitate matchmaking between start-ups, SMEs, and research institutions in both regions to foster innovation and knowledge-sharing.

• Expand minilateral and multilateral engagement
  • Use the Digital Partnership as a model to engage other like-minded actors in building a resilient and inclusive digital ecosystem.

• Promote inclusive digital societies
  • Support the implementation of training programmes for re-skilling, upskilling and STEM skills and promote digital literacy and inclusion.

• Create more accountability and sustainability
  • Develop mechanisms to track the implementation of joint initiatives and measure their impact;
  • Reinforce the Digital Partnership Council’s role as a forum for addressing challenges and maintaining political commitment.

Conclusion

The EU-ROK Digital Partnership is a promising framework for bilateral cooperation in the digital age. However, its success depends on the ability to move from policy to action. By addressing implementation challenges, prioritising high-impact projects and fostering multilateral and multistakeholder engagement, the Partnership can deliver meaningful outcomes for both the EU and the ROK. As it evolves, it has the potential to set a benchmark for international cooperation in critical areas such as semiconductors, AI, quantum technologies, cybersecurity, 6G, digital trade and citizen-focused digital tools. In doing so, the Partnership requires constant engagements and strategic alignment to fully realise its potential. Both partners can deepen political and research collaboration and set common standards by maximising existing tools and platforms, such as the Council, Horizon Europe agreement and various research forums.

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