The Korea Herald

피터빈트

Finance minister holds meeting with experts on THAAD issues

By KH디지털2

Published : March 6, 2017 - 16:34

    • Link copied

South Korea's chief economic policymaker on Monday held a meeting with local experts to discuss ways to deal with China's measures taken on some South Korean firms, in an apparent retaliation for Seoul's plan to deploy a US-led missile system.

At the round-table meeting in Seoul, Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho and 11 professors and researchers including Hyun Jung-taik, president of the state-run Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, reviewed the current pending trade and economic issues between South Korea and China, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.

South Korea's Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho (2nd from left) speaks at a meeting with local experts on China's trade retaliatory actions in Seoul on March 6, 2017. (Ministry of Strategy and Trade) South Korea's Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho (2nd from left) speaks at a meeting with local experts on China's trade retaliatory actions in Seoul on March 6, 2017. (Ministry of Strategy and Trade)

China has taken a series of provocative actions against the Korean cultural products and businesses as Seoul moves to station the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense on its soil.

On Thursday, Beijing told its major travel agencies to stop selling tour packages heading to Korea, while reports showed that some of retail shops in China run by South Korean retail giant Lotte were put under business suspension by local authorities.

The experts said Seoul should take firm action against China's such retaliatory measures and come up with long-term plans to reduce its dependency on China in terms of trade.

China is South Korea's biggest trade partner, as the latter's exports to the world's second-largest economy reached $124.5 billion last year, accounting for 25 percent of the country's entire outbound shipments.

The finance ministry said it is building up countermeasures to cope with the damages that South Korea companies suffer from in China. (Yonhap)