Media reports suggest that South Korea has set a target date of sanctioning of the bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) with China through parliament at November 26, 2015 after a meeting between the government and the ruling Saenuri Party.
Sources claim that the government and the ruling party on Tuesday held an emergency meeting to discuss pending issues, agreeing to ratify the China-South Korea free trade agreement during a parliamentary plenary session scheduled for November 26, 2015. Kim Yong-Nam, spokesman of the ruling party, has said to have expressed that his party and the government will make efforts to run a consultative body with opposition parties to ratify the free trade accord by the target date.
The Saenuri Party, which has a majority in the National Assembly, can ratify the Sino-Korea FTA though opposition parties would be against it. Seoul and Beijing signed their FTA in June after three years of negotiations. Under the deal, the two sides agreed to eliminate tariffs on more than 90 per cent of traded goods each within 20 years after the implementation.
