South Korea's six national advanced strategic industries — including semiconductors, secondary batteries and robotics — require an average of 22.8 critical minerals each, but almost all of them are imported in full, with no domestic production base. Analysts say the concentration of supply in a handful of countries such as China makes it urgent to accelerate development of a mineral recycling industry.
The defense industry alone requires 37 critical minerals, including neodymium and dysprosium, according to the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute (KEITI) on the 26th. That means every mineral on the government's list of 38 critical minerals, designated under laws including the Special Act on National Resource Security, is needed to sustain the defense sector, one of the country's six national advanced strategic industries, with the sole exception of bismuth.
Elsewhere, semiconductors require 22 minerals, secondary batteries 15, displays 16, biotechnology 17 and robotics 30 — meaning each of the six industries depends on between 40% and 95% of the entire critical mineral list. "Most critical minerals are used in two or more national advanced strategic industries," a KEITI official said. "Gallium, indium, tantalum, platinum group metals and rare earth elements in particular are strategic core materials used across multiple advanced industries."
The bigger problem is the near-total absence of domestic production. KEITI found that 29 critical minerals — including lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese and rare earths such as neodymium, dysprosium, terbium, cerium and lanthanum — have no domestic output or only very limited volumes, leaving the country reliant on imports for its entire demand. Tin, lead, zinc and molybdenum are produced domestically to some degree, but self-sufficiency remains below 1% of total demand.
Diversifying suppliers is also difficult, because production, refining and processing of certain minerals are concentrated in countries such as China and Australia. China supplies more than 90% of demand for bismuth, used in pharmaceuticals, as well as gallium, needed for power semiconductors and light-emitting diodes, and indium, used to make indium phosphide (InP) semiconductors and infrared sensors. More than half of several other critical minerals also come from China, including lithium at 65%, niobium at 78%, silicon at 63% and magnesium at 84%. A shift in Chinese export policy or a geopolitical shock would therefore undermine the foundation of Korea's advanced strategic industries.
Meanwhile, the government is treating recycling not as waste processing but as a critical mineral manufacturing industry as part of efforts to strengthen industrial and resource security. It aims to source 20% of demand for 10 strategic critical minerals, including lithium, nickel and manganese, from recycling by 2030.
"The domestic critical mineral recycling industry has to survive for Korea to compete with China and plan for what comes next, but if the industry is left entirely to the private sector, recycling may not reach the level society needs," said Seok Ju-heon, a research fellow at the Korea Energy Economics Institute. "The government should use demand-side support such as price floors, long-term supply contracts and financial investment to send stable market signals to the recycling ecosystem."
