South Korea, UK See Eye to Eye on Pushing forward with FTA after Brexit

South Korea and the UK formed a common bond to maintain a trade relationship at the current level after Brexit.   

On September 28, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Resources of Korea announced that second vice minister Woo Tae-hee of Korea met Mark Price, minister of state at the Department for International Trade of the UK and discussed a direction of trade policies of both countries and ways to boost economic cooperation between the two nations in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in Seoul. This marked the first time that trade ministers of both countries met and discussed pending issues since a UK referendum decided Brexit in June. 

“Regardless of Brexit, there is no change in the UK’s support for free trade and will to bolster cooperation with Korea as a partner in economic cooperation,” said Price in the meeting.

“Prime Minister May’s leadership eliminated uncertainties early, limiting Brexit’s impact on the world economy,” vice minister Woo said. “Bilateral cooperation between the two nations should be steadily maintained.”  

If the UK withdraws from the EU, the UK will not be able to enjoy the tariff benefits of the Korea-EU FTA as the UK will be no longer an EU member. This reason sparked off some voices that Korea should go ahead with a Korea-UK FTA in order to make trade with the UK smooth when Brexit was decided. 

The UK is Korea’s 15th largest export market and biggest trade partner among EU member countries. In the first half of this year, the volume of trade between the two nations stood at US$ 6.3 billion and Korea’s trade surplus hit US$ 926 million.

Last year, Korea’s major exports to the UK were vessels (US$ 2,277 million) and passenger cars (US$ 1,499 million), semiconductors (US$ 512 million), aircraft parts (US$ 287 million), offshore structures (US$ 250 million) and others.