The state-run Korea Post said Monday that it plans to bolster cooperation with the Kahala Posts Group, an alliance of 11 postal operators, to enhance the quality of international mail services and joint market expansion.

Korea Post Director General Kim Hong-jae presented the current status and performance of Korea’s international postal services and its goals while attending the Kahala Post Group's annual meeting in Paris, France, Thursday.

KPG was launched in 2002 by six major postal administrations in the Asia-Pacific region, including Korea, with the aim of promoting customer choice and raising the service performance of their package services through joint collaboration with its members.

Since the launch of the alliance, its membership has expanded into Europe and currently, a total of 11 countries including the United Kingdom, Spain, and France, are participating.

The focus of this year’s annual meeting was the changes of the global postal market brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The attending CEOs extensively discussed ways to improve international mail volume, while sharing their assessment and outlook for the global developments.

The postal operator heads pledged to bolster cooperation by sharing individual measures and strategies to respond to changes in global norms such as the toughened customs clearance policies of the European Union.

According to the data by the Korea Post, Korea’s international mail shipments to KPG member countries fell by over 22 percent from 3.3 million in 2021 to 2.57 million in 2022, as the pandemic developed.

The figures were a drastic decline compared to 4.64 million in 2019 and 4.77 million in 2020.

“Continuous cooperation with KPG is essential to identify new business opportunities, to help us proactively adapt and respond to the strengthened customs clearance polices and to overcome years of losses incurred by the pandemic,” Director General Kim said as he highlighted the need to fortify cooperation with KPG.

"We will accelerate our efforts to further elevate the quality of Korea’s postal services through continuous cooperation with KPG.”