According to Yonhap News,

(SEJONG = Yonhap News) South Korea's exports to the United States have shown meaningful growth since the two countries' bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) went into effect two years earlier, proof of the positive effects of an FTA on trade, the South Korean government said Thursday.

In the period since the Korea-U.S. FTA went into effect on March 15, 2012, South Korea's outbound shipments to the U.S. amounted to US$121 billion, up 10.3 percent from $109.7 billion two years prior to the implementation, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

The growth rate far outpaces the 6 percent increase for the country's overall exports over the cited period.

"In the two years since the implementation of the FTA, exports to the United States rose at a faster rate than the country's exports to the rest of the world, providing strong support for the growth in the country's overall exports during the period," the ministry said in a press release.

It also said the country's exports of goods that benefited under the Korea-U.S. FTA jumped 15.7 percent over the cited period while those of products unaffected by the FTA only gained 1.9 percent.

The FTA also helped boost U.S. investment in South Korea.

In the two years following the implementation of the FTA, U.S. investment in South Korea amounted to $8.04 billion, up 82.5 percent from about $4.4 billion in the previous two-year period, according to the ministry.

The U.S. exports to South Korea, on the other hand, shrank 3.8 percent to $84.4 billion over the cited period, although its shipments of products that benefited from reduced or removed tariffs under the FTA surged 10.1 percent to $22.8 billion.

Despite earlier concerns over damages to South Korea's agriculture sector, the FTA helped boost the country's farm exports to the U.S., while exports from the U.S. to the country dropped significantly.

In the second year of the FTA, starting from March 15, 2013, the country's shipments of food and other agricultural products to the U.S. jumped 21.4 percent from 12 months immediately prior to the implementation.

In comparison, the country's agricultural imports from the U.S. plunged 20.2 percent over the said period.

The ministry said the two countries' bilateral trade will likely continue to benefit and grow under their free trade deal, noting that the utility of the FTA by South Korean firms widened from 70.2 percent in the first year to 75.7 percent in the second year.

The ministry vowed further efforts to help minimize any damages from the FTA.

"We will continue to monitor the effects of the Korea-U.S. FTA while working to further improve it by pursuing measures that will meet the needs of the market," the ministry said.