Korea should actively pursue free trade agreements with other countries to help create more jobs and spur growth as its domestic market remains relatively small, the country’s top economic policymaker said Monday.

“As Korea’s domestic market size is limited, we must make the most of free trade. This is the solution to generating jobs and income,” Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan told an international forum held in central Seoul.

“The Korea-U.S. and Korea-EU FTAs can play an instrumental role in creating new jobs and improving the GDP. The generally high level of liberalization will accelerate Korea’s development toward becoming a Northeast Asian trade hub.”

Korea is set to implement the free trade deal with the U.S. this week after it was approved in November in parliament despite vehement protests from opposition lawmakers. This follows a similar free trade deal with the EU that went into effect in July last year.

The scheduled implementation of the Korea-U.S. free trade pact will come amid growing calls for renegotiation from South Korea’s opposition parties, who say the deal unfairly favors the U.S.

The main opposition Democratic United Party has vowed to scrap the pact if it wins April’s general elections, unless Washington agrees to hold renegotiations to revise some clauses.

Bahk reiterated his opposition to such an argument, saying that it would not only degrade the country’s global credibility but also hurt its overall growth potential in the future.

His remarks come as the government is seeking to expand what it calls the “economic territory” by striking free trade deals. Seoul is currently working hard to have such deals with its neighboring countries, including China and Japan.

Bahk, in particular, underlined the importance of the Northeast Asian region in the global economy, expressing his hope that this year will be a “milestone” for the discussion on regional economic integration with those countries through free trade deals.

“The international community is eyeing Northeast Asia as the Asian region grows ever important, being a relative safety zone in the global economy. For this reason, Northeast Asia is at the very center of political, economic, diplomatic, and military and security discussions,” he said.

“This year will especially stand out as a milestone in Northeast Asia’s economic integration discussions, including the Korea-China and Korea-China-Japan FTAs.” 

(Yonhap News)