Korean Free Trade Agreements: Korean FTA Chart

Free Trade Agreements Executed by the Republic of Korea (“South Korea” or “Korea”)

South Korea currently maintains 21 comprehensive free trade agreements with a combined total of 59 countries. The chart below provides information on the countries with which these Korean FTAs are in force, the key dates of the free trade negotiation processes, and the significance of these agreements. The following chart is accurate as of December 1, 2022.

References of the chart can be found at the following web addresses:

Partner Countries	Negotiations Launched	Signed	In Effect	Significance
Chile	12/1999	02/2003	04/2004	South Korea’s inaugural FTA.
Singapore	01/2004	08/2005	03/2006	First FTA with an ASEAN country.
EFTA[1]	01/2005	12/2005	09/2006	First FTA with European countries.
ASEAN[2]	02/2005	08/2006 (Trade Agreement in Goods)	06/2007 (Trade Agreement in Goods)	First FTA with one of the world’s largest trade blocs.
		11/2007 (Trade Agreement in Services)	05/2009 (Trade Agreement in Services)
		06/2009 (Trade Agreement in Investment)	09/2009 (Trade Agreement in Investment)
India	03/2006	08/2009	01/2010	First FTA with a BRICS[3] nation.
EU[4]	05/2007	10/2010	07/2011 (Provisionally in Effect) 12/2015 (Fully Ratified)
Peru	03/2009	03/2011	08/2011	First FTA with a Latin American country.
USA	06/2006	06/2007	03/2012
USA	01/2018 (Revision Negotiations)	09/2018 (Revision Negotiations)	01/2019 (Revised Korea-U.S. FTA)
Turkey	04/2010	08/2012 (Framework Agreements & Trade Agreements in Goods)	05/2013 (Framework Agreements & Trade Agreements in Goods)
Turkey	04/2010	05/2015 (Trade Agreements in Services and Investment)	08/2018 (Trade Agreements in Services and Investment)
Australia	05/2009	04/2014	12/2014	FTA with a key market in Oceania.
Canada	07/2005	09/2014	01/2015
China	05/2012	06/2015	12/2015	South Korea’s No. 1 trading partner as of 2022.
New Zealand	06/2009	03/2015	12/2015	FTA with a key market in Oceania.
Vietnam	08/2012	05/2015	12/2015	South Korea’s No. 4 investment partner as of 2022.
Colombia	12/2009	02/2013	07/2016
Central America[5]	06/2015	02/2018	03/2021
United Kingdom	02/2017	08/2019	01/2021	Continuity of trade relations between the U.K. and South Korea after Brexit.
RCEP[6]	11/2012	11/2020	02/2022
Israel	05/2016	05/2021	12/2022	South Korea’s growth model as a start-up nation.
Cambodia	07/2020	05/2021	12/2022
Indonesia	03/2012	12/2020	01/2023

[1] European Free Trade Agreement (4 countries): Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein

[2] Association of Southeast Asian Nations (10 countries): Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, and Thailand

[3] Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa

[4] European Union (27 countries): Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Bulgaria, Romania, and Croatia

[5] Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua

[6] Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (15 countries): South Korea, 10 ASEAN member countries, China, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand

The following trade agreements were executed by the government of the Republic of Korea and its counterpart.

To schedule a call with an attorney, please: Schedule a Call on the IPG Legal Website. For the profile of the author of this chart, please see: Sean Hayes