Korea Chair Monitor | Vol 3 Issue 4

February 12 - February 25, 2015

The Korea Chair team takes a biweekly look back at events of interest in Washington, Seoul, and the region from February 12 - February 25, 2015.

TRADE AND ECONOMICS | South Korea and China Initial Free Trade Agreement (FTA)

On February 25, the ROK and PRC initialed an update to the bilateral FTA and released the full English text of the document. In November 2014 President Park and President Xi announced, on the sidelines of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings, the conclusion of the agreement. However, negotiations continued for an additional three months to finalize the text which includes 22 chapters. The FTA is pending an official signing. Following an official signing, the FTA will need to be ratified by the ROK and PRC legislatures before it can go into effect.