Invest KOREA

According to Yonhap News,

(SEJONG=Yonhap News) South Korea's free trade deals helped prop up weak exports and imports in the first half amid the sluggish pace of the global economic recovery, government data showed Thursday.

Asia's fourth-largest economy reported two-way transactions contracting 10.2 percent on-year in the January-June period, with numbers for countries that have free trade agreements (FTA) backtracking 6.6 percent the Korea Customs Service (KCS) said.

In comparison, trade with countries that do not have an open trade arrangement dropped 12.7 percent on-year.

South Korea's trade stood at US$491.1 billion in the first half of 2015, with exports reaching $268.7 billion won and imports standing at $222.4 billion.

As of July, South Korea implemented 11 FTAs with 49 countries that accounted for 43.5 percent of its trade. This is three times larger than 14.7 percent tallied for 2010. The country has FTAs with the United States, the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

yonngong@yna.co.kr

Copyrights Yonhap News. All Rights Reserved.

Source Text

Source: Yonhap News (Sept. 17, 2015)