(Yonhap Interview) European commissioner for justice hopes to expand bilateral cooperation with S. Korea

▲ Didier Reynders, European commissioner for justice, is interviewed by Yonhap News Agency in Seoul on April 12, 2023. (Yonhap)

▲ Didier Reynders, European commissioner for justice, speaks during an interview with Yonhap News Agency in Seoul on April 12, 2023. (Yonhap)

(Yonhap Interview) European commissioner for justice

(Yonhap Interview) European commissioner for justice hopes to expand bilateral cooperation with S. Korea

By Kim Boram

SEOUL, April 14 (Yonhap) -- European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders said the European Union is hoping to boost bilateral cooperation with South Korea in expanding privacy and personal data exchanges based on strong commitment to data protection.

"We have an important data flow between the EU and Korea due to the adequacy decision," the commissioner said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency in Seoul on Wednesday, referring to the EU's 2021 decision that let Europe's personal data be transferred to South Korea.

Reynders visited Seoul this week to have meetings with South Korean government officials, including the justice minister, and heads of the Personal Information Protection Commission and the National Human Rights Commission, to discuss issues regarding data protection and due diligence.

Reynders said the shared commitment of the EU and Korea to a high level of data protection has contributed to the adoption of the decision, which promotes cross-border data flows between businesses and facilitates regulatory cooperation in both regions.

Furthermore, he said Europe wants to expand the data-sharing cooperation in interactive ways, from Korea to Europe, and to cover financial data, which was excluded from the EU's decision as it is additionally protected by the separate financial regulator in South Korea.

"It will be maybe possible to have a material adequacy arrangement for a data flow not only from Europe to Korea, but also from Korea to Europe," he said. "And we want to see if it's possible to extend the scope of the adequacy decision to the financial services."

During his Korean visit, the EU official from Belgium has also discussed issues like the EU's due diligence directive with Korean officials, lawmakers and business leaders.

The directive, adopted by the European Commission last year, was aimed at fostering sustainable and responsible corporate behavior throughout global value chains and requiring major companies to make effort to prevent or mitigate adverse impacts of their activities on human rights.

"What is new in our proposal in Europe is that we are moving from a voluntary approach to a mandatory approach," he said. "We want to be sure that in the entire supply chain, there is no risk for the environment and for the human rights."

He said more things will likely be discussed at the upcoming Seoul-Brussels summit slated for May 22.

The EU commissioner also thanked South Korea for its strong support for Ukraine's fight against the Russian invasion and asked for action to prevent any circumvention of sanctions against Russia.

"We appreciate the support of Korea in the situation that we have in Europe now with the Russian aggression in Ukraine," he said. "We want now to discuss about the ways to avoid any circumvention of the sanctions by different actors in the different countries."

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