Korea Post, global partners to speed up international mail

Korea Post partnered with fellow members of the international postal alliance to enhance international mail service and combat declining volume following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Korea Post acting President Cho Hae-keun, third from right, poses with CEOs of postal administrations linked to Kahala Posts Group in Bangkok, Thailand, on Thursday. [KOREA POST]

State-run postal service Korea Post will work with fellow members of Kahala Posts Group (KPG), an international alliance of postal administrations, to improve international mail service and expand markets for the delivery network.

Korea Post acting President Cho Hae-keun and CEOs of the postal operators linked to the KPG agreed to the arrangement at a meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, on Thursday (local time), Korea Post said the same day.

The CEOs who attended the meeting discussed ways to bolster the lagging international postal service, according to Korea Post, including measures to reduce delivery time; the introduction of new services that use commercial channels, such as those related to customs clearance; and joint business strategies.

The volume of express mail service (EMS) sent among members of the KPG network fell following the Covid-19 pandemic as customers took their business to commercial services, according to Korea Post. The number of packages sent through EMS in a year dropped from 26.15 million in 2020 to 18.58 million in 2022 and further to 17.2 million in 2023.

The KPG was created with the goal of “leveraging collective action and joint capabilities to expand business” according to the group. It includes 11 advanced postal operators from Australia, Canada, China, France, Japan, Korea, Spain, Thailand, Britain and the United States.

Korea Post is under the authority of the Ministry of Science and ICT and is in charge of postal services, postal banking and insurance.

BY KIM JU-YEON [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]