SoKor Joins CPTPP To Broaden Its Export Market

South Korea decided Friday to join a mega free trade agreement involving 11 Asia-Pacific nations as the country seeks to diversify its export portfolio amid heightened economic uncertainty, Yonhap News Agency reported.

Photo Insert: Korean Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo

Late last year, the country launched the process to accede to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

The plan to join the CPTPP was approved at an economy-related ministers' meeting Friday, and the government will submit an official application after completing domestic procedures, including a report to the National Assembly, officials said.

"The envisioned entry carries significance, as it would help us better respond to fast-changing global circumstances and ensure stable supply chains in the Asia-Pacific region," Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo added.

The CPTPP, launched in December 2018, has been signed by 11 countries, including Japan, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Mexico. The member nations had accounted for around 15 percent of the world's total trade volume of $5.2 trillion as of 2020, according to government data.

The CPTPP is the renegotiated version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) led by the former US President Barack Obama administration. In 2017, then US President Donald Trump withdrew from the TPP, widely seen as a key counterweight to China's growing economic clout.

The government has said it plans to submit the CPTPP application before President Moon Jae-in's five-year term ends on May 9. The incoming government of President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is expected to take on negotiations for the country's membership, which is expected to take at least one year.

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