Pulse - 19 January 2026

Seoul, Beijing begin follow-up talks on services, investment under FTA

South Korea and China will open the 13th round of follow-up negotiations on services and investment under the Korea-China free trade agreement (FTA) on Monday in Beijing.

According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the talks, which will run until January 23, will be led by Kwon Hye-jin, director-general for trade negotiations at Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and Lin Feng, director-general for international trade at China’s Ministry of Commerce.

More than 30 officials from the two countries are expected to take part.

The follow-up negotiations stem from the Korea-China FTA that took effect in 2015. Talks on greater cooperation in services and investment began in March 2018 under agreed guidelines and have since progressed through 12 formal negotiation rounds and multiple working-level meetings.

Momentum has picked up after leaders of the two countries agreed at a summit in Beijing earlier this month to seek progress in the negotiations within the year.

The latest round will focus on advancing agreement texts and market access discussions across three subcommittees covering services, investment, and finance.

Seoul and Beijing plan to hold regular formal negotiations, potentially every other month, to speed up progress, said a ministry official.