South Korean Parliament Ratifies Free Trade Agreement With China

South Korea’s rival parties tentatively agreed Monday to pass the country’s free trade deal with China through the parliament, their floor leaders said.

The South Korean parliamentary body also consented to expanding the 2013 free trade deal with Turkey in order to include the investment and service sectors, as well as FTAs with Vietnam and New Zealand.

South Korea is also one of the biggest foreign investors in China.

Under the agreement, Seoul would eliminate import tariffs for 79 percent of goods from China within 10 years, while Beijing will do the same for 71 percent of imported Korean products.

China is the South’s top trading partner as well as its biggest export market, and two-way trade between South Korea and China stood at United States dollars 290.5 billion in 2014. China and Korea officially signed the deal on June 1, and it will enter into force once the legislatures on both sides approve it.

Despite that obvious benefit, along with the potential creation of tens of thousands of jobs, South Korea’s main opposition NPAD party forced a late debate over the deal’s impact on local agriculture. The two parties and the government began operating a trilateral conference in October to discuss compensation measures, though no progress was made until Monday. The agreement included a cooperation fund worth 1 trillion won meant to appease dissatisfied farmers and fishermen and larger subsidies.

The ruling and opposition parties held general meetings of lawmakers on Monday and endorsed their floor leaders’ agreements.