The free trade pact between Korea and the EU will bring great economic benefits to both sides and break ground for the consolidation of the two markets, an EU diplomat said yesterday.

On Thursday, the European Parliament approved the free trade pact with Korea, bringing it one step closer to coming into force July 1.

Seoul and Brussels signed their bilateral free trade agreement on Oct. 6 following two-and-a-half years of negotiations.

The deal also still needs to be ratified by the National Assembly in order to go into effect as scheduled.

“We are at the beginning of a new era in the EU-Korea relationship,” said EU Ambassador to Korea Tomasz Kozlowski.

The trade accord is the most ambitious free trade pact the EU has so far negotiated, and the first of its kind with an Asian country, he said.

“This FTA is a win-win deal to both sides and will bring great benefits to both EU and Korean businesses, workers and consumers on both sides,” he said.

“What’s important is that Korean firms will get more access to the European market.”

Earlier this week, Korea’s main opposition party agreed to end a two-month parliamentary boycott that has frozen dozens of legislative bills, including free trade deals with the U.S. and the EU.

“For the European side, all things have been done for the provisional implementation of the deal as scheduled. I hope these procedures [approval of the deal by Korea’s parliament] will go smoothly and be completed as soon as possible before July,” Kozlowski said.

EU-Korea relations go beyond economy and trade, he said. “A declaration of strategic partnership adopted between Korea and the EU will lead us to strengthen political partnership and cooperation on a broad range of global economic governance to fight against climate change,” Kozlowski said.

 

Essential Vocabulary: pact: 협정/consolidation: 합동, 합병