ISDS Case Map
Korea
The Member States of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) - Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland - and the Republic of Korea met in Geneva on 16 December 2004 to launch negotiations on a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement, which they agree to aim at concluding before the end of 2005.
While there have been suggestions that the second GW Bush administration may consider an FTA with Korea, any such agreement would be an uphill battle for several reasons.
Negotiations to conclude a free trade agreement between Japan and South Korea are expected to face tough going because of ongoing disputes in specific areas of bilateral trade.
Japan's Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura proposed Saturday Japan and South Korea hold talks on a free trade agreement (FTA) as early as January next year.
South Korea will make a determined effort to pursue free trade agreements (FTAs) in an effort to further its interests, despite concerns that this could weaken domestic industries and pose further challenges for the agricultural sector.
A report on the status of FTA fever in 12 Asian countries: Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.
Until April, South Korea was the only member of the World Trade Organisation other than Mongolia without a free-trade agreement (FTA). Now it is trying to catch up in a hurry.
The South Korean government said that it will seek provisions in future free trade talks that will permit preferential duties for products from the Kaesong Industrial Complex in North Korea so that they will be treated as if produced in the South.
South Korea and the United States will hold working level meetings early next year to explore the feasibility of a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries
In excluding agriculture from FTA negotiations, the South Korean government is setting itself up for even greater domestic backlash when multilateral negotiations pry open a sector insulated from any form of competition.
