South Korea and ASEAN are revising free trade agreement (FTA) norms across 13 sectors, including digital economy, critical minerals, supply chains, and intellectual property rights. This marks the first comprehensive negotiation in nearly 20 years since the implementation of the goods trade agreement in 2007.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that the second official negotiation for the Korea-ASEAN FTA will take place in Singapore from September 28 to October 1. Leading the negotiations will be Park Geun-o, Director of Trade Agreement Policy at the Ministry, and Alpha Na Roy, Director of the Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry.
The Korea-ASEAN FTA was established with the implementation of the goods trade agreement in 2007. Both sides have initiated this significant revision to reflect changes in the trade environment, such as the expansion of the digital economy and the restructuring of global supply chains. The official declaration to begin the revision negotiations was made during the Korea-ASEAN summit in October last year, followed by the first round of negotiations in June.
ASEAN is South Korea's second-largest trading partner. According to the Ministry, trade between South Korea and ASEAN reached $204.7 billion last year, making it the second-largest after China, which accounted for $272.8 billion. Trade with ASEAN constitutes 15.3% of South Korea's total trade volume.
In light of this, the government aims to increase trade volume between the two sides to $300 billion by 2029, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the establishment of dialogue relations between Korea and ASEAN. To achieve this goal, the government is pursuing FTA revisions, expanding bilateral FTAs, and improving regulations in the digital and supply chain sectors.
The second round of negotiations will focus on improving norms in 13 areas, including critical minerals, supply chains, digital economy, intellectual property rights, and rules of origin. The goal is to introduce higher-level, modern trade norms than those in existing agreements, such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), in which both parties are already participants.
In the digital sector, the negotiations aim to reduce institutional uncertainties that may arise during digital trade and establish norms to support trade activation. In the critical minerals and supply chain sector, discussions will focus on strengthening cooperation to build a stable regional supply chain. In the intellectual property rights sector, the introduction of norms to protect the intellectual property of South Korean companies, including K-content, will be a key agenda item.
Park Geun-o stated, "ASEAN is a key economic partner for our country, where the transition to a digital economy and the restructuring of supply chains are dynamically underway. We will do our utmost to establish an institutional foundation that allows our companies to expand new business opportunities in the ASEAN market."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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