SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won (Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry) For South Korea and Japan, cooperation is no longer a diplomatic choice but an economic necessity, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said Tuesday, urging the two countries to build a permanent platform to tackle shared challenges."Korea-Japan cooperation is not a one-off event. It is a path toward building a sustainable and actionable community based on deep trust," Chey said at a special Korea-Japan session of the Nikkei Forum in Tokyo.The event, hosted by Nihon Keizai Shimbun and organized by SK Group and the Chey Institute for Advanced Studies, drew about 300 political and business leaders from the two countries to discuss deeper economic cooperation.Chey said the rationale for closer ties has become even stronger since he proposed a Korea-Japan economic bloc in 2024. Both countries are grappling with aging populations, rising trade barriers, surging AI-driven electricity demand and growing energy security concerns, he noted.He argued that stronger cooperation would help Seoul and Tokyo become "rule makers" rather than "rule takers" in the emerging global order, identifying energy, AI and low birthrates as key areas for collaboration.In energy, Chey proposed joint development of energy sources outside the Middle East, cooperation on advanced materials and next-generation batteries, and partnerships in future technologies such as small modular reactors.On AI, he said Korea and Japan need greater scale and bargaining power as competition between the US and China intensifies. He called for data sharing, joint AI infrastructure development and common standards to reduce dependence on any single country.Chey also urged greater private-sector collaboration on childcare, corporate culture and labor-market reforms through the Korea-Japan Committee on Low Birthrate Measures, launched in April.To ensure cooperation is not disrupted by regulatory differences or political shifts, he proposed a government-backed "big tent" platform that "brings together cooperation agendas from companies, academia and young people, and discusses difficulties in advance," he said.Former Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and former Korean National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo also called for stronger future-oriented ties. Kishida highlighted supply chains, energy and AI as areas for deeper cooperation, while Kim said the two countries should work together as market democracies navigating growing global uncertainty.Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, in a video message, pledged to pursue practical outcomes that citizens in both countries can benefit from.Business leaders echoed the call. Masakazu Tokura backed cooperation in next-generation nuclear technologies, including SMRs, while Masahiko Kato pointed to AI data centers, semiconductors and LNG as promising areas for joint business opportunities.Park Sang-kyu, SK Group's president in charge of Japan operations, said the forum reflected a growing consensus that Korea-Japan economic cooperation is becoming increasingly important for both countries' long-term competitiveness.