Ministry of Trade Industry and Resources

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources (MOTIR, Minister JK Kim) will implement amendments to the Public Notice on Trade of Strategic Items (Public Notice) on September 1, 2026. MOTIR began the amendment process by issuing an administrative notice on the proposed changes, which ran from July 13 to August 12, 2026. The key changes are as follows.

The full text of the amendment is available on the MOTIR website (https://www.motir.go.kr/) and in the Official Gazette.

1. To support international coordination on export controls, the amendment incorporates approximately 80 updates agreed upon by the four major multilateral export control regimes—the Wassenaar Arrangement (WA), the Australia Group (AG), the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), and the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR)—into the Public Notice.

The four regimes are multilateral and intergovernmental cooperative bodies established to control exports of weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons; missiles; conventional arms; and strategic items that can be used in the development, production, or use of such weapons. Each year, members, including Korea, operate their export control systems by incorporating the items designated for control under each regime into their domestic laws.

In particular, in recent years, growing global attention to dual-use items that can serve both civilian and military purposes has led to broader international coordination on export controls in advanced industries such as semiconductors and biotechnology.

Under the amendment, Korea will also designate advanced dual-use items—including high-performance integrated circuits for AI and semiconductor manufacturing equipment—as strategic items. These items are already subject to export controls in major economies, including the United States, the European Union, and Japan. Starting September 1, 2026, exporters of these newly designated strategic items must obtain an export license from MOTIR.

2. The amendment removes and abolishes the Exporter’s Undertaking form from the documents required for a strategic item export license. It also clarifies terminology in relevant documents and forms and provides more detailed instructions on how to complete them, making the process easier for exporters of strategic items.

Reflecting feedback from exporters, the amendment also revises several forms. These include the Expert Classification (Application) Form, used to request a determination on whether an export item is subject to strategic-item controls; the Comprehensive Export License (Application) and the End-User Statement, required when applying to MOTIR or another licensing authority for an export license; and others, including the Import Purpose Confirmation (Application) Form and the Statement by Ultimate Consignee and Purchaser.

MOTIR will continue to help companies understand and comply with the export control system. The ministry will brief industry associations on the amendments and provide consultation services through the Export Control Issue Desk (Tel. 02-6000-6496–6499) at the Korean Security Agency of Trade and Industry (KOSTI).