- Negotiations
In May 2007, the European Union and South Korea started negotiating a bilateral free trade agreement. It took effect on 1 July 2011.
This deal is part of the EU’s post-2006 "Global Europe" strategy to boost the competitiveness of EU corporations in the world by securing deeper commitments to neoliberal policies from trading partners, including expanded rights for European transnationals. In Korea, the European Union is trying to win equal, if not better, footing against US firms after the conclusion of the US-Korea FTA. (The EU makes stronger demands than the US on Korea in the areas of intellectual property, services, competition policy and environmental standards.)
Social movements from both sides mobilised against the deal’s potential impacts. One flashpoint of concern is for Korea’s agricultural sector, where pig farmers in particular are expected to suffer from an influx of subsidised EU pork as a result of this deal.
last update: May 2012
photo: European External Action Service - EEAS/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
12-Jul-2007
Yonhap
The ongoing free trade pact talks with the European Union (EU) will be centered on the extent of liberalization of the manufacturing sector, a senior Korean government official said Thursday.
28-Jun-2007
Chosun Ilbo
The Korean wine industry expects the Korea-EU free trade agreement will cause a third seismic shift in Korea’s imported wine market.
11-Jun-2007
South Korea’s commerce minister on Monday called on European companies to consider investing in an inter-Korean industrial complex in North Korea.
11-Jun-2007
Yonhap
No foreign firm has expressed interest in the facility that South Korea wants to build up as a showcase for economic cooperation between the Koreas.
12-May-2007
Korea and the European Union have finished their first round of free trade talks. They have agreed to the basic principle of eliminating tariffs on 95 percent of all their products and on industrial products in ten years. We hope to see these negotiations be prudent and thoroughly about looking after Korea’s interest, which was not the case with FTA talks with the United States, which were forced through by a ticking clock set by the other side.
11-May-2007
South Korea and the European Union made good progress this week in their first round of negotiations to forge a major free trade pact, chief negotiators from both sides said on Friday, but they conceded sensitive issues were barely touched.
11-May-2007
Yonhap
South Korea and the European Union were to wrap up their first round of free trade talks Friday with Seoul’s negotiators expressing satisfaction over the week-long negotiations, but conceding sensitive issues were barely touched.
7-May-2007
Yonhap
A free trade pact with the European Union (EU) is expected to hurt South Korea’s alcoholic beverage, meat and dairy sectors, a report by Nonghyup Management Institute, a semi-official research institute. said Monday.
7-May-2007
Bilateral free trade agreements do not contradict efforts to forge a multilateral deal under the World Trade Organization but instead help fill key gaps, the European Union trade chief said Sunday in announcing the start of two-way negotiations with South Korea.
1-May-2007
South Korea is scheduled to decide on the beginning of negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU) at a meeting of ministers next week, a government official said Sunday.
