Trade minister seeks input from tourism, media firms as Seoul pushes to widen China FTA
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Trade Minister Park Jung-sung met with Korean entertainment and tourism companies Friday to hear their views as Seoul negotiates with Beijing to expand the two countries’ free trade agreement (FTA) to services and investment, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources said.
Park held the meeting at the CJ ENM Center in western Seoul. Companies from the film, streaming, performing arts, gaming and tourism industries attended.
The Korea-China FTA took effect in December 2015 and mainly covers trade in goods. In 2018, the two countries began follow-up negotiations to further open their service and investment markets.
The ministry said the meeting was held to hear how Korean content and tourism companies are faring in China’s service market and what problems they face. It also aimed to work out, together with the industry, a negotiating strategy that would help Korean firms enter sectors where they are competitive.
The participating companies said Korean content is highly competitive in China and demand for it is strong. But they said that consumer popularity has not turned into actual revenue and exports, and that conditions for doing business there need to improve.
They asked that the follow-up negotiations address China’s regulations that they see as discriminatory against Korean companies. They also called for removing policy uncertainty and for making China’s content review and approval process more transparent and faster.
“The government has actively used bilateral negotiations and consultation channels, including the Korea-China FTA implementation committee, to support K-content exports to China and to improve business conditions for Korean companies operating there, including those in tourism,” Park said.
“We will make every effort in the ongoing follow-up negotiations on services and investment to reflect the industry’s views as much as possible."
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.