[THE INVESTOR] The South Korea-US free trade agreement has delivered expected results, increasing exports of both countries, a Heritage Foundation report has said.

“U.S. protectionists have repeatedly claimed that the KORUS FTA has resulted in more imports from South Korea. That is true, but it has also resulted in more exports from the US to South Korea,” the foundation said in an Aug. 22 report.

The pact, which has been in effect since 2012, may not have been working as fast as some would like it to, but the bottom line is that the deal has been working as promised, the report said, adding that a growing number of businesses in both countries have capitalized on the expanded opportunities.

Specifically, the report said that US exports of goods to South Korea that benefit from the trade deal have been growing an average of nearly 5 percent each year, while US auto exports increased by over 200 percent by value between 2011 and 2015, more than 14 times faster than the increase of US auto exports to the world.

In addition, US exports of services to the South have expanded by nearly $6 billion, or close to 35 percent, since the pact went into effect, the report said, benefiting American service industries, such as finance, insurance, energy services, logistics, and telecommunications, the report said.

Top 12 South Korean firms alone created more than 35,000 jobs in the US last year alone, three times more than in 2012, the report said, adding that Korean firms are planning to make more direct investment in the US.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)