South Korea Revokes 636 Agric/Aquatic Duties under U.S. FTA

According to Yonhap News Agency, a South Korean official report of March 14 reveals that the country will have 636 kinds of agricultural/aquatic products free from import duties as soon as South Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) comes into force, making up 32.8% of all agreed-on goods.

Since most of the duty-free goods fall into South Korea's import-reliant items, including coffee, wine and corn feeds, there will be no big impact on its agricultural and fishing sectors.

The report stresses that South Korea has endeavored to postpone the duty revocation for some sensitive imports, even adopting special safeguard regulations.

For example, regarding U.S.-made beef, South Korea will revoke their duty stage-by-stage within next 15 years; furthermore, if beyond certain limit within the period, a high protective duty will be applied to the beef import.

By estimate, over the next 15 years with the bilateral FTA, there will be KRW 12.6683 trillion worth of production cut off South Korean agriculture and fishery.