South Korea and Canada are in discussions on ways to expand bilateral cooperation in energy resources, including key minerals related to electric vehicles(EVs).

Seoul's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said second vice minister Park Il-jun and Canada's deputy minister of natural resources John Hannaford held talks in Seoul on Tuesday.

The ministry said the two officials affirmed the need to expand cooperation beyond mineral resources, natural gas and energy technology to also include hydrogen, nuclear power plants and key minerals used in secondary batteries and electric vehicles(EV).

The ministry said Park and Hannaford discussed creating a substantive collaborative system between the two country's governments and companies, including the adoption of a memorandum of understanding, to secure cooperation in key minerals for EVs and batteries, such as lithium.

The ministry noted that securing such minerals in North America has become critical due to the Joe Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act that withholds tax incentives from purchases of EVs that are either manufactured or run on batteries made with materials from outside North America.