A biennial forum returning to Seoul after 2007
According to The Korea Herald, the 19th Asia-Pacific Conference of German Business (APK 2026) will be held in Seoul from Thursday to Saturday and will bring together around 750 business executives, political figures and sector representatives from Germany and the Asia-Pacific region. The Korean-German Chamber of Commerce reported the attendance of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the CEOs of Siemens, Deutsche Bank, BASF and DHL Group. The forum is biennial and this is the third edition hosted by the South Korean capital, after those of 1992 and 2007: a return that the source links to South Korea's growing importance for German companies, seen as an export market and strategic partner for production, technological innovation and regional supply chains.
Political and industrial agenda: AI, semiconductors, raw materials
The program includes on Thursday the meeting between Merz and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, with talks expected on economic cooperation and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, batteries and semiconductors. On Friday, Merz and Prime Minister Han Seong-sook will deliver the keynote addresses. The opening session will feature Stefan Rouenhoff, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, and South Korean Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan, on how shifts in global balances are redrawing Germany's economic relations with the Indo-Pacific.
The conference is co-chaired by German Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Katherina Reiche and Siemens CEO Roland Busch, who also heads the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business. Speakers include Christian Sewing (Deutsche Bank), Markus Kamieth (BASF), Tobias Meyer (DHL Group), Shashank Deshpande (Boehringer Ingelheim) and Choi Soo-yeon (Naver). Industrial AI is identified as a central theme, alongside supply chain resilience, critical raw materials and global trade dynamics. The opening reception is hosted by Deutsche Bank on Thursday at The Shilla Seoul; discussions continue for two days at the Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas.
Stated complementarity and open questions
The source reports that German companies are seeking to diversify global supply chains, strengthen industrial competitiveness and expand partnerships in key technologies. Germany is South Korea's main trading partner in the European Union, accounting for around 13 percent of Korean trade with the bloc, and around 540 German companies operate in the country, supporting around 100,000 jobs, according to the German Foreign Ministry. Marie Antonia von Schonburg, president and CEO of the Korean-German Chamber of Commerce, said that APK 2026 comes at an important time for bilateral economic relations and that Korea and Germany offer complementary expertise in innovation and advanced manufacturing. The concrete outcomes of the political meetings and any announcement of agreements or investments remain to be verified, which the material does not anticipate.
To be verified
The material does not specify signed agreements, investment values or the results of the talks between Merz and Lee. The SK hynix news item on the page is not linked to the forum and is not addressed. The information is attributed to The Korea Herald and the Korean-German Chamber of Commerce.
