South Korea is seeking to expand free trade pacts with other countries to
overcome present economic challenges and achieve sustainable growth, the
country's top economic policymaker said Tuesday.
In a meeting of
economic policymakers, Minister of Strategy and Finance Bahk Jae-wan said the
country must do more to make inroads into new overseas markets while at the same
time opening itself to foreign competition.
He stressed that
protectionism is not an answer to economic problems and called for more free
trade agreements (FTA) to be reached so the country can gain access to more
overseas business opportunities.
"Particularly in times of
difficulties, there is a need to aggressively seek foreign markets," he
said.
Seoul already has FTAs with the United States, the European
Union, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the European Free Trade
Association as well as Chile, and is presently engaged in talks with
China.
Bahk added there is a need to restart FTA talks with Japan,
Canada and Australia, where little progress was made in the past.
The
policymaker pointed out that persistent eurozone woes have raised the need for
closer international policy cooperation.
He said that the government
is keeping close tabs on overseas developments in Europe and is prepared to
enact contingency plans to reduce any fallout that overseas developments can
exert on the economy.