South Korea Advised to Reduce Lopsidedness in Trade with ASEAN

The Hyundai Research Institute said in its report on Nov. 21 that South Korea’s trade with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is heavily dependent on its trade with Vietnam and the dependence in terms of trade as well as investment should be reduced for better risk management.

“Trade between South Korea and Vietnam accounted for 42.7 percent of South Korea’s trade with the 10 member countries of the ASEAN in 2018 and South Korea concentrated on Vietnam and Singapore in investing in the ASEAN region that year,” the institute explained, adding, “Investment strategies focusing on more promising regions are not problematic at all, and yet any slump in the Vietnamese economy will lead to a decrease in South Korea’s trade surplus if the reliance is not reduced.”
 

In the meantime, the 10 ASEAN member countries, which accounted for 1.6 percent of the total GDP of the world in 1990, are expected to increase their ratio to 3.6 percent this year. From 2010 to 2019, the 10 countries posted an average annual economic growth of 5.3 percent while the global average stood at 3.8 percent.