McKinney Execublog

On Wednesday, December 14, 2012 Korean leaders will be discussing a Free Trade Agreement with their Chinese and Japanese counterparts. Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan said yesterday that, “If Korea signs a free trade deal with China and Japan, Korea will have one of the largest FTA networks in the world.” If this happened then there is probably little incentive for Korea to be a part of the Trans-Pacific partnership, which is a multi-national FTA among the U.S. and the Asia Pacific region. In essence they will have almost all of their bases covered themselves. Korea already has Free Trade Agreements with 45 countries.

On a related note, a vocal minority took to the streets for the KORUS FTA but did not do so for the European/Korean FTA. What will happen if Korea does enter into discussions with China and Japan on an FTA? Will the vocal minority hit the pavement?

The Wall Street Journal / Asia

December 12, 2011,

FTAs: Now For the Tough One

Pyeongchang is the site of the 2018 Winter Olympics, but this week it’s the site of what appears to be the start of one of South Korea’s most important economic deals between now and then.

On Wednesday, government and academic experts on trade from South Korea, China and Japan will meet in Pyeongchang to lay the ground work for a three-nation free trade agreement.

Thought that South Korea had a hard time getting FTA’s done with the U.S. and European Union? (Not to mention Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the list goes on…) Three-way talks with Japan and China could make the U.S. and EU negotiations look as appealing as chocolate-covered marshmallows.
Neither Japan nor China has a record of doing free-trade deals, though China has been pushing South Korea to hold some form of talks on lowering trade barriers for more than a year.

Japan has long resisted negotiating away its trade barriers. Last month, it had to be nearly dragged by the U.S. and other countries into committing to Pacific-region trade talks.

Still, Japan’s Nikkei newspaper is reporting that this week’s meeting is likely to produce a recommendation that formal FTA talks begin after a three-nation summit in China next spring.

President Lee Myung-bak is likely to talk with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda about FTA prospects when they meet in Japan next week.
One curiosity: will the protesters who have fought and are still fighting against South Korea’s free-trade deal with the U.S. (though not the EU deal, for some reason) now turn their ire at the prospect of one with China and Japan?