Korea’s Postal Service is strengthening cooperation with postal operators in major countries to restore international express mail (EMS) volumes and improve service quality.

The Postal Service said on Thursday that its head, Park In-hwan (박인환), attended the 2026 Kahala Posts Group CEO meeting held in Hangzhou, China, on July 23 (local time) and discussed ways to improve EMS quality and revitalise services.

CEOs of postal operators from participating countries pledged to revitalise the international mail market through cooperation as EMS dispatch volumes continue to decline.

The Postal Service said EMS dispatch volumes among member countries fell 10.1 percent to 12.27 million items last year from 13.65 million items in 2024. Korea Post’s dispatch volume also dropped 11 percent to 2.01 million items from 2.26 million items over the same period. The Postal Service analysed that the main reason was that volumes that shifted to commercial delivery channels have not recovered.

Member countries also discussed quality improvement measures to boost the competitiveness of international mail products. The Kahala Posts Group is pursuing a project to develop international mail services with participation from postal operators in major countries including South Korea, the United States, Japan, China, Australia, Hong Kong, Spain, France, Canada and Estonia.

At the meeting, New Zealand Post joined as a new associate member with the consent of member CEOs. New Zealand Post has been discussing membership with the Kahala secretariat since November last year.

Park said, "I hope we can create competitive postal products through mutual cooperation among member countries." He added, "I sincerely congratulate New Zealand Post on joining as a new associate member."