Korea Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon discussed the stalled free trade negotiations with his Chinese counterpart Chen Deming during their meeting in Beijing on Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said.

The meeting raised expectations for the two governments to put their FTA negotiations on a fast track.

Seoul and Beijing began preliminary government-level talks in September but made little progress.

The two sides concluded in May 2010 a three-year joint study involving government officials, businesses and academics.

The FTA first proposed five years ago has been put on the backburner as Korea has worried a possible damage on its agricultural sector.

The negotiations for Korea’s FTAs with the U.S. and the European Union took less than three years and just over four years, respectively, before conclusion

Korean experts project that the envisioned FTA with China would bring larger benefits to Korea than the pacts with the EU and the United States.

According to the Samsung Economic Research Institute, an FTA with China could increase Korea’s gross domestic product by 2.72 percent and its exports to China by more than 30 percent.

The SERI estimates the effects of trade pacts with the E.U. and U.S. on Korea’s growth to be 1.02 percent and 0.56 percent, respectively.

In addition, an FTA with China will have longer lasting implications for the Korean economy, enabling the country to take advantage of China’s new policies focusing on domestic consumption and trade balance, the private think tank said.

By Choi He-suk  (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)