Trade minister stresses need for FTA with China

DAVOS, Switzerland (Yonhap News) ― Korea’s trade minister stressed the need to sign a free trade agreement with China, as the deal will help Seoul attain its goal of becoming a global free trade hub and lure more foreign investment.

“As Korea has FTA deals with the U.S. and the European Union, it would be a right move to clinch additional FTAs with China and Japan,” Bark Tae-ho, the country’s new trade minister, said in an interview with Yonhap news agency here on Saturday.

“There might be little benefit from a potential FTA with Japan for now, but there is the need to clinch a free trade pact with China, even though it would be a low level deal,” said Bark, who is now visiting this Swiss resort town to attend a global trade ministers’ meeting held on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.

Bark, formerly a professor of the Graduate School of International Studies at Seoul National University, was named the new trade minister late last year to replace Kim Jong-hoon, who served as Seoul’s chief negotiator in free trade negotiations with the United States.

Korea, which has major FTA deals with the U.S. and the EU, is now seeking to expand such free trade pacts with many countries in a bid to enlarge what it calls its “economic territory” in the world.

In early January, Korea and China agreed to start formal talks for a free trade agreement in the near future. Both countries are hoping to launch formal free trade negotiations before the end of June.

China is Korea’s largest trading partner and bilateral trade between the neighboring countries is expected to reach $300 billion by 2015.

Bark said that Seoul needs to reach an FTA pact with China in order to attract more investment, which will help Korea develop into an economic hub in the Northeast Asian region.

Bark said the two countries may seek to make three categories based on sensitivity in deciding on liberalizing the markets of goods.