Ministry of Trade Industry and Resources

Korea and China are holding the 17th round of follow-up negotiations on services and investment under their Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in Seoul from October 12 to 16, 2026.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources (MOTIR, Minister JK Kim) announced that around 30 delegates from both countries are participating in the talks. The Korean delegation is led by Kwon Hye-jin, Deputy Minister for Trade Negotiations at MOTIR, and the Chinese delegation by Chen Chao, Director General of the Department of International Trade and Economic Affairs at China’s Ministry of Commerce.

When concluding the FTA, which entered into force in 2015, Korea and China agreed to pursue greater liberalization through follow-up negotiations on services and investment. They launched the talks in March 2018 and have since held 16 formal rounds.

The follow-up negotiations on services and investment under the Korea–China FTA are significant because they lay the groundwork for expanding bilateral trade beyond goods into high-value-added services. Bilateral trade in goods totals approximately USD 270 billion, compared with about USD 38.8 billion in services.¹  The two sides are discussing ways to expand services trade in line with their close trading relationship in goods.

“We will work to improve conditions for Korean companies entering overseas markets, including by securing substantive results in sectors such as audiovisual and financial services on the basis of reciprocal market opening,” Deputy Minister Kwon said. “We will continue in-depth discussions on areas of mutual interest to make progress in the negotiations that aligns with Korea’s national interests, and do our utmost to build on that progress to further strengthen the foundation for bilateral economic cooperation.”

 

  ¹Korea’s services trade is equivalent to 14.2 percent of its goods trade with China, compared with 23.8 percent for its trade with the world.