Kang Sung-joo, the director of the Korea Post, talks at the Universal Postal Union’s Extraordinary Congress on Wednesday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. [KOREA POST]
The Korea Post joined postal services from around the world in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from Sept. 5 to 7 to discuss ways to keep up the global trend of reduced mail volume and increasing online commerce.
The Korea Post, under the Ministry of Science and ICT, said on Sunday that it participated in the general meeting of the Universal Postal Union under the United Nations. The union has 192 members.
Some 1,500 government ministers and other senior decision-makers from the world’s postal authorities discussed postal services in an era of rapid technological change.
They unanimously agreed to simplify election procedures, improve regional representation and reduce the contributions provided by Small Island Developing States (SIDS), which are some of the most disadvantaged of all UPU member states.
The representatives specifically agreed to change the traditional practice of dealing with mail and parcels in a different category. When it comes to parcels weighing 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) or less, postal services will handle them in the same manner as mail.
The members of the union will finalize their proposal by the next general meeting, which is scheduled for 2020.
Kang Sung-joo, the director of Korea Post, said at the closing ceremony that the representatives should help mail to be freely exchanged between the two Koreas, a request Seoul first made 24 years ago. At the 21st UPU Congress, held in Seoul in 1994, South Korea released a resolution that asked member states to approve the suggestion, but it has been pending thus far.
Korea and Vietnam also used the congress in Ethiopia to step up cooperation to help out small businesses and multicultural families amid rising postal exchanges between the two countries. Kang also held separate bilateral meetings with Japan and India.
KoreaJoongang