The European Union is looking to Asia and talking with South Korea and Japan in key industries such as economic security, technology and defence. In Brussels, Maroš Šefčovič, Commissioner for Trade, and Korea’s Prime Minister Yeo Han-koo have held their first Strategic Dialogue on trade, supply chains and technology under the EU-Republic of Korea Trade Committee: exchanges are growing, and investments are successfully moving on in a trade relation that reached 124 billion euros in 2025, the Commissioner said. The decisive step forward will be the approval of the final text of the Digital Trade Agreement (DTA) that will be signed by the end of the year. The new “Strategic Dialogue” will be focussed on critical raw materials, batteries and semiconductors. At the same time, the first EU-Japan defence industry dialogue took place, also today, and was attended by the Commissioner for Defence, Andrius Kubilius, and the Japanese Minister Toshio Ino. There is a double purpose: strengthening industrial resilience, and promoting the joint development of “dual-use” technology. The goal of such initiative is to integrate the two partners’ industrial bases better, thus reducing strategic vulnerabilities in an increasingly uncertain geopolitical context.