South Korea, Japan and China agreed to accelerate their negotiations for a “comprehensive, high-level and mutually beneficial” trilateral free trade pact during a meeting of their country’s leaders in Seoul on Sunday.

If the three-way FTA is concluded, it is expected to boost their volume of trade as the three Asian giants are major economic partners.

According to a report released by Korea’s presidential office ahead of the three-way summit, the nation’s No.1 trade partner is China with two-way trade amounting to $235.4 billion in 2014.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nation, or ASEAN, came second with $137.9 billion. Korea’s three other major trading partners are the U.S. ($115.6 billion), the European Union ($114.1 billion) and Japan ($85.9 billion).


koreaherald@heraldcorp.com