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Foreign policies, including trade policies, typically entail significant executive discretion, marked by a top-down decision-making process. This has been evident in South Korea, where the president, as chief diplomat, wields substantial authority in selecting the country's Free Trade Agreement partners. Given South Korea's efforts to solidify its status as a trade hub and the strategic advantages of joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), why has the country not been able to formally apply for membership? What influenced presidents to consistently list the CPTPP as a foreign economic policy objective, yet refrain from participation while actively pursuing other trade initiatives? This article seeks to adopt insights from the agenda-setting literature to comprehend the mechanisms governing presidential agenda priorities in foreign economic policy. Utilising a framework of foreign policy attention, it uncovers factors and processes that influence South Korean presidents' focus in shaping trade policies. It demonstrates that external policy events drive the president's attention, but the limited progress of the CPTPP underscores the crucial impact of the president's priorities and responsiveness to the domestic audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from Canadian and Korean public companies available at Bloomberg, this study attempts to demonstrate the relationship between investment in establishments and trade liberalization, an effect caused mainly by increased competitiveness. This project contributes to the studies previously conducted on the subject and adds information regarding countries with different peculiarities, such as Canada, better known for being the main trading partner of the USA and major producer of commodities, and South Korea, which for some decades has invested to become a reference in technology and world innovation. In line with previous studies, a negative and statistically significant relationship was found between investment and trade liberalization, an effect that was verified mainly for those establishments that are far from the frontier of the sector in which they operate, and for the firms in the frontier this effect is positive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Türkiye's economic relations with East Asia have gone through a significant structural shift over the last two decades. Previously, Japan dominated Türkiye's trade with East Asia and foreign direct investment inflows from East Asia to Türkiye. However, recently both South Korea and China have surpassed Japan as major trading partners of Türkiye in East Asia and caught up with Japan in foreign investments in Türkiye. The dependence of the Turkish economy on intermediate inputs from China, in particular, rose remarkably. The shift from Japan toward South Korea, and more significantly, to China in Türkiye's economic relations with East Asia reflects the changing division of labor in the East Asian region and the rise of China as a manufacturing superpower. In this analysis, we discuss the extent of this shift in Türkiye's relations in light of the ongoing talks of a proposed free trade agreement between Türkiye and Japan, the changing global trade environment due to the decoupling from China, and the increasing fragmentation of the world economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trade has long been the foundation of relations between the Republic of Korea and the European Union, and the conclusion of a comprehensive free trade agreement between the two sides in 2011 was both a recognition of the value of economic exchange and a catalyst for deeper cooperation in subsequent years. This paper discusses in some detail the governance of trade relations and other aspects of economic cooperation between Korea and the European Union, highlighting the multilayered nature and the expanding scope of legal ties between the two sides. The positive bilateral cooperation occurs however against the background of a changing and increasingly challenging global context. The failure of the Doha Round, the limitations of the World Trade Organization, and the growing concerns about de-coupling between the USA and China are all developments that complicate efforts towards trade liberalization and indeed threaten to disrupt global trade significantly. These adverse trends contain particular risks for Korea and the EU, both close allies of the USA and also both economies that are deeply integrated with the Chinese economy. Managing Korea-EU trade relations is therefore becoming both more complicated but also more important, and in conclusion, the paper provides an outlook on these future challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU-South Korea cultural relations have intensified in the past few decades. Since the signing of free trade deal between two parties in 2010, the Korean public perception of the EU has positively evolved. Both parties initiated a protocol on cultural cooperation under the EU-RoK free trade agreement where particular emphasis was placed on the collaboration of audio-visual sector. The main part of this paper has three sections. The first section refers to EU cultural policy and diplomacy. In order to explain the EU's cultural presence in South Korea, this paper addresses European cultural exports to South Korea and the South Korean perception of the EU. The following part discusses South Korean policy orientation and diplomacy regarding culture. By introducing the statistical data on Hallyu contents export to Europe, one can understand the current situation of Hallyu expansion in Europe. Also, the European perception of Hallyu is included. Since EU cultural diplomacy worldwide still has a national dominance, the following section discusses four national EU cases―France, Poland, Sweden, and Italy―to illustrate the types of EU-South Korea ICR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper empirically investigates the effect of the EU–South Korea free trade agreement (FTA) on manufacturing trade flows. By applying a state‐of‐the‐art structural gravity model with intra‐national (i.e. domestic) trade and using disaggregated data, we quantify both the trade impact and the observed heterogeneity in the FTA estimates. In line with literature, we find that the EU–South Korea FTA exerted asymmetric effects in bilateral exports across directions of trade. Compared to previous studies, our findings suggest a different explanation for the poor performances of Korean exports to the EU in the post‐FTA period, namely offshoring patterns in electronics and a broad‐based decline in the shipbuilding industry. When we drop these two export categories from the analysis, we show that the FTA exerted a large effect on trade in both directions, increasing bilateral exports by about 30%. We then investigate the substantial observed heterogeneity in pair‐industry‐specific estimates of the FTA. The main source of variation is represented by asymmetries in ex‐ante trade barriers across sectors, with a prominent role for non‐tariff instruments. Stronger pre‐FTA regulatory intensity is associated to a high liberalisation potential, favouring larger FTA estimates. Tariffs instead do not explain the heterogeneity in the trade effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leading theories suggest that amongst continuing exporters, lower variable trade costs should boost exports of smaller firms by the same or greater percentage rate than larger firms. However, investigating the impact of the deep EU‐South Korea FTA with French customs data, we find robust evidence to the contrary. Applying a triple‐difference framework, we report that the FTA increased sales in the top quartile of continuous exporters by 71.5% points more than in the bottom quartile. More than 90% of that growth premium is driven by reductions in NTBs. These findings suggest an additional channel driving the distributional effects of FTAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the impact of the Chile-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (CKFTA) over the bilateral extensive and intensive margins of trade. Using disaggregated product-level data for the period 1996-2017, the paper tests the impact of CKFTA on bilateral flows, as well as differentiate these effects between intensive and extensive margins at the product level. To estimate, a Poisson-Pseudo Maximum Likelihood model is proposed. It is found that the CKFTA had a positive effect over bilateral trade flows, and although new products were added to the bilateral export basket (extensive margin), the impact is stronger on goods already traded (intensive margin). Moreover, the paper concludes that this effect is stronger for Chilean exports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes the framing of protests against the Korea–United States Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA), arguably one of the most significant and contentious contemporary movement events that occurred in South Korea. The anti-KORUS FTA protests have drawn the largest public, committed to challenging the hegemonic rhetoric of the Korean government's neoliberal policy initiatives, by asserting the trade deal as posing various social and economic ills to human life. Drawing on the combined framework of Gramscian analysis and the framing perspective, this study highlights the ways in which the anti-KORUS FTA protest activism exercises power by disseminating alternative discourse against the existing political condition. By examining a broad range of data, the study identifies three specific counter-hegemonic framings of collective action used by local civil society organizations to delegitimize the official discourse—'neoliberalism as the problem,' 'public accountability,' and 'national independence.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the trade relationship between Mexico and South Korea through the lens of trade in value-added perspective. Using the global input–output model, we dissect gross exports into their value-added components to analyze the sectors benefiting most from value-added generation in both countries. To do this, we use the multiregional input–output matrices developed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The results show a growing bilateral relationship between 2000 and 2021, with South Korea having a stronger position by generating a larger share of value-added linked to the bilateral relationship. Nevertheless, the gap has narrowed over time. Notably, South Korean exports to Mexico have substantially contributed to value-added generation in technology-based manufacturing sectors such as machinery, equipment, electronics, electrical, and optical products. Similarly, Mexico's mining sector increasingly relies on exports to South Korea for value-added generation. The trends observed in this study's findings persist even amidst the reconfiguration of Global Value Chains, indicating that a free trade agreement between Mexico and South Korea has the potential to further enhance value-added generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chile and Korea subscribed a free trade agreement in 2003, which entered into force in 2004. One of the main objectives behind the agreement was to modify the concentration of the Chilean export basket, traditionally dominated by primary products, through preferential access to the country's main export destinations. From here, this paper analyses the achievement of this objective through mixed-methods. Acknowledging that econometric models may not fully explain trade patterns, this article uses both quantitative data to understand the impact of the agreement on export flows, and qualitative information to complement these results. It concludes that Chile has not been capable of achieving the objective stated, due to constrains in the public and private sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The political economy literature extensively discusses how great powers use asymmetric power relations as a tool in trade negotiations, yet discussion regarding how asymmetric power relations can account for the variety of power asymmetry dynamics in international relations, especially in the cases of middle power countries such as South Korea, is scarce. This paper examines how South Korea's free trade agreement (FTA) strategies with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were enabled under the Moon Jae-in administration's New Southern Policy (NSP) by analyzing the sources of South Korea's power asymmetry with ASEAN. Understanding power asymmetry as an evolving process, this paper takes the constructivist approach to middle power to demonstrate how South Korea's development of a middle power identity shaped the country's negotiation leverage in trade negotiations. This enabled South Korea to secure in-depth FTAs with ASEAN at the bilateral level under the NSP, despite ASEAN members' initial reluctance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the trade and welfare implications of further East Asian trade integration, through the signing of the China-Japan-Korea FTA, and continued trade tensions between the US and China. Our analysis uses a structural gravity approach to explore the effects of these cooperative and non-cooperative trade policies. Our key findings are: (i) for China, the FTA can compensate for continued trade tensions (ii) in terms of the FTA and for the members involved, reductions in tariffs are expected to lead to larger welfare gains compared to those from lower NTBs (iii) for the members involved, a deeper agreement will be more welfare enhancing. Overall, East Asian integration appears to be a more appealing prospect in light of tensions with the US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU-South Korea Free Trade Agreement, which entered into force in 2015, is an example of so-called "second-generation" regional trade agreements. Using the gravity equation and drawing on a novel dataset on trade in manufacturing goods (Monteiro in World Trade Organization, Geneva, 2020), I explore the heterogeneity in the trade effects of this agreement across time (anticipation and phasing-in/delayed adjustment), country pairs, and across trading directions within pairs (exports versus imports). First, the positive trade effect after the announcement vanished one year prior to entry into force. Second, on average exports of EU countries to South Korea rise, while imports of EU countries are not significantly affected, potentially reflecting differences in ex ante trade policies. Third, additional imports caused by the agreement are larger for those EU countries where South Korea accounted for a large share of extra-EU imports already before the agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do interest groups decide which member of Congress to target when decisions are made collectively? Do lobbying strategies change as legislation advances? Answering these questions is challenging due to a lack of systematic observations of lobbying contacts. I answer these questions using a novel data set constructed from reports submitted by lobbyists on behalf of South Korea regarding its free trade agreement with the United States for 10 years. I show that a diverse set of politicians are contacted but the timing, intensity, and strategy of lobbying contacts vary by politicians' institutional positions as well as their predisposed preferences for free trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contrasts agricultural protection of Japan and Korea with the West and identifies major differences between them. It characterizes agricultural protection of Japan and Korea (net heavy food importers) as "tariff-based and scarcity-sensitive" aimed at promoting survival and the West (net food exporters) as "subsidy-based and surplus-inducing" aimed at enhancing farm income. We then identify factors underlying the coevolution and divergence in the extent of agricultural trade liberalization between Japan and Korea since the launch of the Uruguay Round in 1986. Korea accepted deep cuts in agricultural tariffs in bilateral FTAs with the US and EU during the 2000s while Japan continued to protect farm interests by concluding low levels of FTAs with politically sensitive products excluded from tariff concessions. The two countries' stances reversed since 2013 with Japan becoming proactive in pursuing high levels of FTAs with major agricultural exporting countries and Korea decelerating its opening of agricultural markets. To explain such divergences, this paper develops a political economy framework in which the incumbent political leadership would consider both national interests and sectoral (farm as import competing industries and business/manufacturing as exporting industries) special interests. Our analysis shows that President Roh (2002–2007)'s embracing of neoliberal paradigm in formulating foreign trade policies that would promote national interests underlies the unprecedented level of agricultural trade liberalization in Korea during the 2000s, while Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's determination not to be outcompeted by the rising China and Korea's ambitious FTA strategies underlies Japan's proactive bilateral and mega-FTA drives since 2013. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the prospects of hegemony through a reanalysis of the anti-Korea–United States Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) movement. This movement failed to block the treaty, but it challenged the conduct of traditional ruling parties, raising the prospect of "rule from below." The existing literature has fallen into a basic political condition trap, emphasizing South Korea's fundamental political and cultural context without explaining the essential nature of this social activism in terms of the construction of hegemonies in the global system. Drawing on Gramsci's insights, the protest is evaluated focusing on its novel characteristics: the contested ideological site of the struggles and the evolved protest geography. The anti-KORUS FTA movement's political implications and national growth are a local response to the reinforced contradictions of neoliberal restructuring. This study presents a nuanced interpretation of the movement through its analysis of emergent local dissent against neoliberal globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A plethora of literature has investigated the voting behavior of US legislators on trade bills to reveal a possible causal mechanism. Relying on dichotomous roll‐call voting data, however, has certain limitations on revealing the comprehensive thought probes of lawmakers on a complex diplomatic issue such as making an FTA deal. In this paper, we provide new insight to fill such a gap by analyzing congressional speech data during FTA ratification procedures. Using an automated web scraper, we collected the entire speech data (N = 5,372) of Senators and House Representatives in the 108th and 112th US Congress regarding AUSFTA and KORUS FTA, respectively. The speech sentiment analysis results show background and context (i.e., attitude‐behavior inconsistency) in the process of trade negotiations and agreements. Additionally, the results help identify important factors (i.e., ideology, constituency stimuli) that influence whether members of Congress stand for and against the FTA implementations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explored a comparative static computable general equilibrium model with six regions and 12 sectors to estimate the impacts of the recent UK–Korea free trade agreement (FTA) along with the European Union (EU)–Korea FTA. The empirical results provide quantitative evidence of the impact on national GDP, national exports and imports by sector, and the changes in exports or imports among the United Kingdom, Korea, Japan, China, and the EU. The UK–Korea FTA, along with the EU–Korea FTA, increases GDP and welfare for the United Kingdom and Korea; moreover, there is a large increase in automobiles, transport equipment, and machinery exports between Korea and the United Kingdom. The GDP and welfare level of non‐member countries such as Japan and China will slightly decline. Exports from the United Kingdom and Korea to non‐member countries are also expected to decrease in most manufacturing sectors. The UK–Korea FTA will lead to increases in imports between the United Kingdom and Korea due to mutual trade creation effects and trade diversion effects. However, non‐member countries such as Japan's exports are expected to experience a large decline in automobiles to the United Kingdom and in most manufacturing products to Korea due to the negative impact of the UK–Korea FTA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examined the symmetric and asymmetric nexus between trade policy and industrial production disaggregated into manufacturing, electricity, mining and quarrying production in Nigeria. The study adopted the ARDL and NARDL framework based on annual time series data over the period 1970-2018. The findings depict that trade policy dynamics have short run non-linear effects on industrial output and its subsectors; manufacturing, building and construction, mining and quarrying output except electricity output and these effects dovetailed into the long-run and thus the asymmetric effects of trade policies on industrial output were confirmed. The results from the short-run non-linear ARDL further revealed that trade restrictions stimulate the performance of the industrial sector and the manufacturing subsector, while this performance plummets under trade liberalization. These results were confirmed by the short-run linear ARDL, while the long-run linear ARDL results reported the contrary without altering the asymmetric status of the nexus. The study therefore recommends guided liberal trade policy like the Korea, Indonesia and Japan model where some forms of protections allowed for rapid transformation of the industry and its subsectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is part of a series to document the voices and perspectives of La Via Campesina leaders for the 50th Anniversary of the Journal of Peasant Studies and the 30th Anniversary of La Via Campesina. Yoon Geum Soon reflects on Korean women peasant organizing from the local to international level. She discusses the resistance to international trade regimes, organizing strategies rooted in women peasants' daily lives, and the history and trajectory of peasant movements in Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Free trade agreements (FTAs) can ignite domestic conflicts between export‐ and import‐competing industries over trade gains. However, if the factors of production, such as capital and labour, move freely across industries, the returns to factor owners will quickly converge. Then, sectoral conflicts over FTAs will be less likely to arise. We analyse the case of South Korea's FTAs to measure (a) sectoral FTA gains and (b) interindustry factor mobility and to examine (c) the role of interindustry factor mobility in mitigating sectoral conflicts over trade policies. South Korea is an ideal case study due to the low barriers to domestic geographic mobility and high trade dependence. Based on data on its trade with 252 countries and factor returns between 2002 and 2017, we find that export industries did not gain much from the FTAs, while the import‐competing agricultural sector was the winner. Sectoral conflicts greatly decreased over 2008–2010. Interindustry capital mobility plays a significant role in weakening the sectoral conflicts, while the impact of interindustry labour mobility is limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: South Korea introduced the patent linkage system in 2015 as part of the implementation of free trade agreements with the United States. This study assessed trends in brand-name drug patenting and generic patent challenges in South Korea after the introduction of the system.Methods: From 2012-19, we constructed a novel dataset that combines information about listed patents with their corresponding brand-name drugs and patent challenges against these brand-name drugs. We analyzed brand-name drug patenting and generic patent challenges and elucidated factors in timely patent challenges using event history analysis.Results: During the study period, 659 brand-name drugs listed their patents in the K-Orange Book and patent challenges against 95 brand-name drugs were initiated. The number of listed patents and their nominal patent term varied by the characteristics of the brand-name drugs. Patent challenges of generic drugs were marginal in South Korea even though the surge of patent challenges of generics were noticed right after the introduction of the patent linkage system.Conclusions: Patenting and patent challenges are critical factors when introducing generic drugs into the market under the patent linkage system. However, the impact of the patent linkage system on patenting and patent challenges could be varied by the specific form of the patent linkage system and the contexts of pharmaceutical markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the UK‐Korea‐EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and the UK‐Japan‐EU FTA, the gross domestic products of the UK, Korea, Japan, and the EU will increase. The UK's exports to Korea and Japan, and Korea's exports to the UK, Japan, and the EU will increase in some manufacturing sectors, particularly the automotive sector. Likewise, Japan's manufacturing exports to the UK and the EU will grow. However, UK and Japanese exports to the EU and Korea, respectively, will decline in this sector. There will be positive welfare effects on the UK, Korea, and Japan, but negative welfare effects on the EU, China, and the rest of the world (ROW). While UK imports from Korea and Japan and Korean imports from the UK and the EU will both increase and have mixed trade creation and diversion effects, UK imports from the EU will decrease in the manufacturing sectors. Korea's imports from Japan will decline, but Japan's imports from the UK, Korea, and the EU will increase due to trade creation and diversion effects. China's imports from Korea and Japan will decline, whereas China's imports from the UK and the EU will increase. EU imports from Korea and Japan will increase due to trade creation and diversion effects, but EU imports from the UK, China, and the ROW will decline in most manufacturing sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moreover, the FTAs at stake do not deal with sustainable development in the same way either.[7] The first panel of experts under Article 13.15 of the EU-Korea FTA (EU-Korea proceeding) was formally established on 30 December 2019 and rendered its report on 25 January 2021. The EU-Korea proceeding was brought in the context of a specific chapter of the 2009 EU-Korea FTA, which entered into force on 1 July 2011,[8] namely Chapter 13 entitled "Trade and Sustainable Development". For instance, the very EU-Korea FTA and the Korea-China FTA adopted a non-binding mediation mechanism to deal with disputes of non-tariff barriers (NTBs).[77] Noting that unpredictable exercise of discretion and invisible regulatory restriction couched in vague terms underpin NTBs, the parties may have realise that a new scheme of dispute settlement (mediation) may offer a flexible alternative in certain situations. Free trade agreements (FTAs) increasingly refer to sustainable development.[1] This is generally through the inclusion of substantive provisions dealing with labour issues or environmental protection in dedicated chapters but can also be manifested in specific dispute resolution mechanisms that allow for third-party intervention. [Extracted from the article]

This paper empirically examines what factors affected the termination of anti-dumping measures in Korea during the 2006-2019 period. Employing a meticulous literature review, the paper investigates the WTO’s and Korea’s rules on the termination of antidumping measures and sets up the related variables in the Cox proportional hazards model. The empirical results show that the GDP growth rate, employment, and trade competitiveness in domestic industries had positive effects on the hazard of the termination of AD measures, while free trade agreements had negative effects. By industry, the hazard of the termination of AD measures was less prominent in the steel industry, while it was more prominent in the machinery industry. These results imply that AD measures in Korea had the properties of a proper trade remedy policy and, at the same time, a protectionism tool to sustain its domestic industries, depending on industrial characteristics and other trade policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2011, the European Union's (EU) free trade agreements (FTAs) include a Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) chapter which provides for environmental and labour commitments. Nevertheless, the ratification and implementation of these commitments remain insufficient. It is therefore essential to analyse whether the EU has become more ambitious in enforcing the TSD chapter. To analyse the chapter's enforceability, the EU's FTAs with South Korea, Canada and Japan have been compared. The comparative analysis was based on three elements: the labour and environmental commitments, institutional mechanisms and the enforcement procedure. Concerning the latter, the ongoing EU-Korea dispute settlement case over workers' rights in South Korea is the leading example. Until the Commission reveals more assertive enforcement plans, it can be said that the EU has not become more ambitious in enforcing its TSD chapter. Since no major changes were detected in the comparative analysis, several interviewees proposed enforcement mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Tariff removal has always a positive impact on increasing trade between countries. Trade liberalization always leads to an expansion in intraregional and interregional trade, which is also supposed to stimulate investment and economic growth in the long term. Considering the aforementioned, this paper employs a multi-region, multi-sector dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to investigates the economic impacts of tariff removal in Korea, Japan, India, China, and ASEAN. To conduct the investigation, this paper constructs general algebraic modeling system (GAMS) language to find an answer to how the simulated region's economy affects after the tariff removal. The simulation results show Korea, Japan and India ranked the top countries with an average growth in the gross domestic product (GDP) of 0.13%, 0.01%, and 0.004%, respectively. Moreover, China and ASEAN followed with a decline in average gross domestic product (GDP) by − 0.02% and − 0.002%. A significant increase in consumption is observed in China, where, consumption declines in Japan, Korea, India, and ASEAN. The average export in China, Japan, Korea, and ASEAN reduce by − 1.8%, − 0.43%, − 24%, and − 2.3%, where, export in India expands to 0.58%. The analysis of this study finds that Korea's economy will gain more by growing commodities output like rice, wheat, cereal grains, and textile-wearing apparel by 3.8%, 2.7%, 2.5%, and 8.5%, accordingly. In conclusion, this study is directed to policymakers looking at valuable information for decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The processes of objectively conditioned integration in the economic, political, legal, and institutional spheres of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) Member States took place step by step, starting from preferential trade agreements, passing to the customs union, the common market and other stages of integration. This process is accompanied by the gradual deepening of trade liberalization with potential partners. The selection of potential partners should be carried out through a comprehensive and detailed analysis of the structure and volumes of foreign trade of the EEU Member States (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia) with third parties, their markets structure, existing customs regulation, trade barriers, and possible export potential. The research evaluated the EEU's possible enlargement effects on the Member States' economic indicators. The research aimed to assess the possible consequences of EEU expansion and signing free trade agreements, considering Pakistan, Korea, and Malaysia as potential trade partners. Modeling the effect of an FTA assumes horizontal zeroing of tariffs between partners. Then, using the GTAP model, a new state of general equilibrium was calculated corresponding to the changed parameters of customs and tariff regulation. In this case, most variables, such as change in GDP, production output, and export-import volumes, were estimated, manifesting the economic effect of trade liberalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate South Korea's free trade agreement (FTA) initiative with priority given to the government's motives under the institutional structure. Two broad approaches have elaborated political leaders' motives for making a particular trade policy. The social concerns approach assumes that trade policy reflects political leaders' welfare concerns for the general public and its desire to achieve various national and international goals. In contrast, the self-interest approach presumes that political leaders tend to support a particular trade policy depending on whether the policy increases or decreases their real political incentives. By investigating structural changes of the FTA agency in South Korea, this study found that FTA motives work in different ways under different institutional structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Korea deployed the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) antimissile system in response to North Korea's nuclear test, leading to the Chinese government's opposition to THAAD, citing national security concerns. Chinese consumers held a large-scale "boycott for Korean products" campaign in 2014. In the same year, the China–South Korea free trade agreement (FTA) was signed. This study compares the double-difference (DID) and triple-difference (DDD) models using the impact of the THAAD political conflict on South Korean exports. In the DID model, THAAD reduced South Korean exports, while in the DDD model, the FTA effectively alleviated the impact of THAAD. The net difference of the FTA's impact on the commodities boycotted in response to the THAAD conflict exists because some boycotted commodities were promoted by the FTA while others were not. The effect of the THAAD event shock was significant only in the first two years, with minimal subsequent changes in growth. THAAD and FTA's dynamic effects provide evidence of how political conflict can eventually influence popular opinion and how the trade policy plays a significant role in the national conflict resolution. Finally, the study provides additional evidence on the effect of non-tariff barriers triggered by THAAD on the service industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After concluding a bilateral free trade agreement with Australia (AUSFTA), the U.S. attempted for the second time, in negotiating an FTA with Korea (KORUS), to incorporate trade rules constraining the operation of domestic health insurance program of its trading partner. Unlike the AUSFTA, a separate chapter was spared to prescribe exclusively for pharmaceutical affairs in the KORUS FTA, which may have implications on the operation of Korea's National Health Insurance program. With a survey of this pharmaceutical chapter in the KORUS FTA and the lateron amendment, this article aims to evaluate policy implications based on the textual and normative comparisons with relevant provisions under the AUSFTA (Annex 2C), the first FTA introducing unprecedented rules to regulate domestic healthcare program, i.e., the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme. This article reviews the significance of these provisions by comparing the differences between the KORUS and AUSFTAs, and finds that many pharmaceutical provisions in the KORUS FTA are more comprehensive in scope or more stringent in nature than those in the AUSFTA. These provisions, called Annex 2C-plus provisions have been considered to have either greater impacts on access to affordable medicines or deeper interference on the operation of NHI program in Korea. However, this article finds that the impacts may not be so great either because of the flexible wordings for discretionary implementation or the lacking of key elements of committed obligations. The real impacts may need to be dynamically assessed with the evolution of further implementation of Korea's commitments in the revised agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effect of the foreign acquisition on domestic firms' R&D activities using a firm-level dataset. We exploit a rich dataset of South Korea, which is a representative small open economy. We find that foreign takeover leads to increased R&D expenditures, which are more outsourced. The effect stood out after the global financial crisis, for listed companies and companies that rely on trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The patent linkage system upgraded patent challenges to an important factor in granting timely market approval for generic drugs. We aim to understand patent challenges and identify the factors that are associated with successful patent challengers under the patent linkage system in South Korea.Methods: We constructed a novel dataset that combined information on manufacturers with detailed data about their patent challenges after introduction of the patent linkage system. Based on the number of successful patent challenges, manufacturers were categorized into non-challengers, passive challengers, and aggressive challengers. Then, two types of logistic models were applied to identify the factors associated with successful and aggressive challengers.Findings: Only 39 active ingredients were challenged by 77 manufacturers from March 2015 to December 2019. Of 171 manufacturers, 94 (55 %) were non-challengers, 58 (34 %) were passive challengers who had succeeded in fewer than 4 patent challenges, and 19 (11 %) were aggressive challengers who had succeeded in 4 or more patent challenges. Higher sales, more employees, and a greater number of reimbursed drugs were associated with being a patent challenger, while a greater number of reimbursed drugs was associated with being an aggressive challenger.Conclusion: Some manufacturers utilize patent challenges to strengthen their product portfolios in the market. However, under the patent linkage system, the frequency of patent challenges is limited in South Korea compared to the United States. In particular, patent challenges against drugs in injection form and biologics are very rare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We build and calibrate the model of an artificial economy that resembles the situation of open developing countries with small domestic markets: they are far from the world technological frontier, and they have a comparative advantage in one or a few primary commodities. • The model features an aggregate ouput equation, with two components: output in a traditional sector and output in a large variety of modern sectors, whose existence in the domestic economy depends on search activities by a pioneer to discover production functions that exist abroad but not in the domestic economy. • The introduction of these sectors is constrained by two market failures: (1) the discovery of new production functions has an externality because, once revealed, they can be copied without cost by "copycats" who have not made the investment in discovering them; and (2) the profitability of the new production functions depends on a coordination externality in the form of the availability of non-traded, sector-specific inputs, which we label "infrastructure". • The existence of copycats is crucial for the scaling up of production. However, their entry also raises the cost of scarce inputs (specifically, skilled labor) and reduces the profitability of pioneers. • The model features a budget constraint, with the planner obtaining tax revenue from the traditional sector and from pioneers and copycats in modern sectors. Its expenditures are subsidies to the information investments of pioneers and expenditures on sector-specific infrastructure required by modern sectors. • Owing to its open-ended nature, this model cannot be solved analytically and must be calibrated and simulated giving values to key parameters. • We do this for a large number of options and obtain the following results: ○ Planners maximize growth by subsidizing information investment at a rate of 50 percent. ○ Given all options of tax rates on profits by pioneers and copycats, growth is maximized at zero taxes on pioneers and 50 percent on copycats. ○ Additionally, we simulate a run with a learning by doing feature: goods that go into production improve their productivity at 3 percent per annum. In this case, the growth-maximizing tax rates are 25 percent for pioneers and 85 percent for copycats. • We examine the trajectories of output for the best base simulation and the best learning-by-doing simulation and compare them with the growth paths for South Korea and for Chile. The base simulation is similar to the growth path for Chile, while the learning-by-doing simulation is similar to the Korean growth path. • We describe the industrial policies of Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Chile, and we find similarities (and some differences) with the policies that are behind the simulations of the base and learning-by-doing scenarios of our model. Most of the incentives received by firms can be assimilated to subsidies to transfer production function technology; in practically all cases we find expenditures on sector-specific infrastructure or subsidies to private firms to build it. We build and calibrate the model of an artificial economy that resembles the situation of developing countries with small domestic markets: they are far from the world technological frontier, and they have a comparative advantage in one or a few primary commodities. Their growth is by imitation and addition of goods not previously produced, rather than by innovation or productivity growth in existing sectors. Starting new sectors from scratch is hampered by two market failures. In the first place, entrepreneurs must be willing to invest in discovering production technologies abroad and adapting them to local conditions. This process has information externalities: the "pioneers" have to undertake investments in information that can easily be copied by others who have not made the investment ("copycats"). In turn, the latter are essential for the scaling up of production in new sectors. Second, there is a coordination problem. Success in establishing new industries is dependent on the availability of non-tradable inputs ("infrastructure") serving not only the good in question but several other goods that use a similar set of non-tradable inputs. We call "families" the sectors that use the same infrastructure. The model introduces a fiscal sector, with a planner who seeks to maximize growth. We simulate a large number of combinations of tax rates on the traditional sector and on pioneers and copycats, spending on subsidizing information search, and options for building sector-specific infrastructure. The objective is to find the combinations of policies that maximize growth. After calibrating the model and obtaining two scenarios that maximize growth, one without and one with productivity growth, we compare them to the growth trajectories of South Korea and Chile. We also describe the growth policies of Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Chile, and contrast them to the key features of the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we use a multinomial logit model and identify the important factors in determining the staging categories of Korean tariff concessions in the Korea–China free trade agreement (FTA). We find that most-favored-nation (MFN) tariff rates and whether a product is agricultural or not are the most influential determinants of tariff concessions in the FTA. The results also show that the effects of the determinants are heterogeneous over industries: the influence of the Chinese import share is more pronounced for agricultural products than for manufactured goods, while that of MFN tariffs is less prominent for agricultural products. The latter result implies that quite a few Korean agricultural products are heavily protected in the FTA, despite their relatively low MFN rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Featured Application: Energy saving hull-form design for a fishing vessel. In response to the increasing number of free trade agreements (FTA) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TTP), it is necessary to develop next-generation fishing vessels for the littoral sea of the Republic of Korea. The main objectives of such fishing vessels are to enhance the comfort of the crew and to improve fuel efficiency under the newly established principal dimension. This paper employs the hull form variation method to obtain a series of forebody hull forms of the 19 gross tonnage class of a coastal composite fishing vessel. Chine breadth modification has been used for hull form variations. The objective function is the minimum value of wavemaking resistance. A parametric study was conducted to observe the effects of design parameters on the objective functions, and hull-form optimization was performed. In addition to the hull-form optimization, the effect of the stern flap was investigated in terms of both resistance and operational performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After several hundred years of a closed-door policy, Korea finally opened its ports in 1876. Historians have traditionally claimed that the port-opening was coerced by foreign countries, deteriorated the Korean economy, and led to Korea becoming a colony. We examined this view by measuring biological living standards and find the opposite. The height of the male Hangryu Deceased, who died on the street but whose bodies were not claimed, increased by 1.1 cm from the 1880s to the 1910s. This also implies that free trade rather than new institutions might matter more for economic growth during the colonial era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper empirically examines whether and how inward foreign direct investment (FDI) affected industrial productivity in Korea during the 2000-2016 period, based on dynamic panel data of inflow FDI on an arrival basis from 427 manufacturing industries. The paper adds to the literature by analyzing whether both technology spillovers and industrial restructuring from inward FDI can differ according to industrial characteristics such as capital intensity, imported intermediate inputs, and tariffs. The empirical results show that the overall effects of inward FDI on total factor productivity (TFP) were statistically insignificant in general. However, the positive effects of inward FDI on productivity became statistically significant for industries with lower tariffs. Capital intensity were not involved in the relationship between inward FDI and productivity. Thus, the paper highlights that the results in previous studies with inward FDI on a notification basis were overestimated and inward FDI policies in Korea should focus on channels such as trade liberalization and the redistribution of production factors rather than capital accumulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the growing partnership between Israel and South Korea, two countries facing similar geopolitical challenges and existential threats. Despite occasional tensions, both countries strive to maintain their strategic relevance to the United States. They rely on the US for military and economic support but also aim for independence and have developed their own military industries. Both countries have become global leaders in weapons exports and have close ties with other Middle Eastern countries. The recent signing of a free trade agreement and South Korea's interest in Talmud studies further highlight the importance of their partnership. [Extracted from the article]

In trade negotiations, developed countries have been frontrunners in advocating environmental protection whereas developing countries were reluctant to link environmental protection to their trade agreements. However, the recent trend of including environmental provisions (EPs) in free trade agreements (FTAs) shows a policy change in some of the emerging economies. Not only did they adopt EPs but they also actively introduced a comprehensive set of EPs – environmental chapters. Using the Republic of Korea (Korea)'s FTAs, this study explores why emerging economies come to include environmental chapters in their FTAs. Existing studies have offered explanations focusing on domestic politics. Yet, they do not specify the impact of the interaction between domestic and international politics. Through the lens of the two-level games, this study finds that the combination of domestic and international pressures plays an important role in making green FTAs. First, Korea has been pursuing environmental leadership at the world stage during the Korea-US FTA (KORUS) negotiation. Against this background, the US' proposal to include an environmental chapter has reverberated within domestic politics. Second, the costs of implementing this environmental chapter were low. After the KORUS, Korea has been including similar environmental chapters because these chapters were cost-effective ways to promote its enduring environmental leadership. This finding has far-reaching implications for facilitating emerging economies' green FTAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-regional free trade agreements (FTAs) have flourished in East Asia since the late 1990s. Japan and Korea were at the forefront of this trend. Nevertheless, most policymakers' preferences orbited around region-oriented FTAs out of reluctance to make a sudden policy shift away from their conventional emphasis on World Trade Organization-based multilateral negotiations. The trend continued in Japan throughout the 2000s. In contrast, Korea took a sharp turn toward a cross-regional strategy in 2003. By the mid-2010s, this had created a significant gap in the two countries' overall FTA partner choices. What caused policymakers' ideas in the two countries to diverge from their initial focus on region-oriented FTAs? This paper focuses on the conditions that enabled policymakers' ideas to explain the divergence by developing the contextual‒dynamic framework of FTA policies. At the dynamic level, individuals are more likely to emerge with new ideas when their expertise comes from outside the decision-making body, accompanied by their social qualities and power. Contextual conditions should also be met: the trade policy environment should reciprocate agent-level qualities to create a supportive atmosphere for policy change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many different approaches and databases have been developed for the evaluation of non-tariff measures (NTMs) and free trade agreements (FTAs). This paper is devoted to the EU-South Korea agreement, which is the first 'second-generation' FTA of the EU, addressing a wide array of non-tariff policies. We review the evolution of NTM types applicable to the EU-South Korea trade relationship and the role of NTMs in ex-ante and ex-post analyses of the agreement. Subsequently a structural gravity model is employed to assess the value added of information on different aspects of FTAs and types of NTMs by evaluating their ability to predict the trade effects of the EU-South Korea FTA. Our results show that, when accounting for information on the components common in modern deep trade agreements, no additional trade effect is attributable to the EU-South Korea FTA. The evolution of NTMs differs considerably across indicators used, but trade predictions are hardly affected. Most specifications point towards a negative effect of bilateral differences in the number of technical barriers to trade (TBT) applied and sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS) against which trading partners issued complaints at the WTO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU–South Korea free trade agreement (FTA) represents a case of comprehensive trade liberalization between two major economies with large automotive industries. This article examines and compares the total and automotive industry trade effects of the EU–South Korea FTA. The empirical gravity analysis shows asymmetric effects between the bilateral exports of EU and Korea. Trade-enhancing effects are found in both gross and value-added trade indicators of EU automotive exports, while no substantial effects are detected in Korean exports. The post-FTA trade dynamics suggest that the removal of industry-specific non-tariff barriers (NTBs) played an important role in facilitating EU automotive exports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To examine how changes in relative national prices affect innovation input, this paper studies the impact of changes in industry‐specific effective real exchange rates on industrial R&D expenditures in Korea. In particular, it explores the heterogeneous responses of industries with different export intensities. Employing dynamic panel data estimation techniques, the results suggest that among industries with medium levels of export intensity a lagged depreciation in industry‐specific effective real exchange rate leads to a decline in contemporaneous industry‐level R&D expenditures. However, this adverse effect is insignificant for industries that either mostly serve the domestic markets or that are heavily engaged in foreign markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to analyze the different impacts of the determinants of free trade agreements (FTAs) based on the stage of the FTA discussions. By disaggregating the FTA formation process into four stages, this study finds that the influence of industry interest groups has a positive impact on FTA formation in the first stage, when two countries initiate the discussion by establishing a joint study. In contrast, it has a negative impact in the last stage, when signed FTAs need to be ratified in order to enter into force. Political institutions emphasized in the existing studies are likely to be significant in the initial stages, but lose their significance as the process moves forward. The findings of this study collectively support the hypothesis that a given FTA is the result of sectoral politics where interests and the power of industries have a significant influence on trade policy decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Republic of Korea (Korea) and the Russian Federation (Russia) are actualizing the cooperation in the Arctic area. As a result, Korean companies have begun to enjoy real economic benefits. However, since there are some troublesome aspects associated with this cooperation, measures that can lead to sustainable development through the supplementation of relevant norms are critical. Russia is also aware of these problems in obtaining economic benefits in the future; cooperation between the two countries should be extended to sufficiently cover this point. The laws related to the region are vague and do not encompass every field. In addition, when it comes to national interests, many situations arise from areas where international and national laws are not clearly harmonized. Therefore, efforts should be made to reflect the interests of both sides and to maintain economic benefits, in case Korea participates in Russia's development of the area, as well as for the legal foundation to reduce negative issues. The Korea-Russia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiation is on the track for the purpose. The two governments should consider various tasks, such as harmonizing with the former FTAs and dealing with the domestic law in accordance with the new FTA. The two countries also have to conduct researches on the efficient use of the FTA and for the 'Sustainable Arctic Development'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union (EU) has historically sought to influence environmental policies of other countries through multilateral environmental agreements. Under its 7th Environmental Action Plan and Trade for All strategy it now seeks to extend its environmental policy projection through trade; its recent free trade agreements now contain chapters addressing environment and sustainable development. However, by adopting high environmental standards the EU can also advance its own economic interests suggesting an ambiguous motivation. The recent Korean, Japanese and Canadian FTAs and the Mercosur agreements are examined in order to place the extent of this environmental turn within the context of economic advantage. The finding is that while environmental protection provisions in these FTAs may have environmental benefits, they may also serve EU domestic economic interests. This motivation has implications for new FTA negotiations, such as those with New Zealand and Australia, and now the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Republic of Korea was a relative latecomer towards concluding free trade agreements. However, once its first FTA with Chile came into force in 2004, its FTA network has rapidly expanded. Its 16 FTAs in force so far cover over 70 per cent of its exports and its partner countries account for a three quarter of world GDP. It has FTAs with three of its major trade partners- China, EU and the US- and is in the process of negotiating more that will further increase the coverage. Noting this rapid growth, this paper examines the interesting differences in these FTAs in relation to rules of origin and their verification, in dealing with standards and their compliance and trade remedies. Some of them may provide clues regarding possible ways in which future FTAs may evolve or even be a way for multilateral solutions to emerge on dealing with non tariff barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]