Korea, China, Japan to pursue trilateral free trade agreement

Korea, China and Japan have begun negotiations for a trilateral free trade agreement, saying they are seeking a “high level of comprehensive free trade.”

Delegates from the three countries held their seventh joint meeting of industry, government and academia in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province on Friday. They officially adopted a research paper to be reported to a trilateral summit in Beijing in May next year after undergoing reviews and ministerial meetings.

In a joint statement, the delegates said, “The Korea-China-Japan FTA will bring economic benefits to all of the three countries and are workable,” adding they will consider sensitive sectors while seeking a comprehensive and high level of agreement.

The statement suggests that they will minimize exceptions from market opening and grace periods. Under Korea`s free trade agreements with the European Union and the U.S., tariffs on 95.7 percent and 99.6 percent of goods and services traded will be abolished, respectively.

For agricultural products, which are expected to be the hottest issue for the trilateral accord, the delegates deferred the judgment on the level of market opening to the main negotiations. "We advise each country to abolish tariff and non-tariff barriers after properly considering sensitivity," the statement said.

Once implemented, the trilateral deal will give birth to the world’s third-largest economic community with a combined GDP of 12.34 trillion U.S. dollars and population of 1.52 billion. It is uncertain, however, when the three countries will reach an agreement due to complicated economic interests, territorial disputes and fisheries friction among them.

"In many cases, FTA talks didn`t proceed smoothly among countries with uncomfortable political relations,” said Choi Seok-yeong, Korea’s chief free trade negotiator. “As diplomatic considerations are the foremost element for an FTA, (a quick conclusion) won`t be easy in reality.”

january@donga.com