On Monday November 30, 2015, the South Korean parliament ratified a free trade agreement with China. A free-trade pact is signed between countries to reduce trade barriers and increase trade of goods and services with each other. Although this free trade agreement was signed months before in order to reduce tariffs, ratifications have been made as of Monday in order to pave way for the deal with South Korea’s largest export market to take effect this year. This new change to the free trade agreement is supposed to eliminate tariffs on ＄42 billion of South Korea’s imports from China and on ＄73 billion in South Korean exports to China. In addition to all these benefits, South Korea’s government is also estimated to create about 54,000 jobs within the next ten years. However, there were oppositions from farmers and fishermen that came with this change due to the fact that ratifying this deal would hurt agriculture and fisheries. Both industries fear greater competition from less expensive Chinese imports. In order to solve this problem, South Korea agreed to spend 1.6 trillion won (＄1.4 billion) over the next decade on tax breaks and other forms of aid for farmers and fishermen.

After reading this article, my reaction was that this was great news for the South Korean government. Not only are they increasing trade exports, but creating thousands of jobs as well. Although there are objections to this deal from farmers and fisherman, I appreciate the fact that the Korean government is taking into consideration the concerns of the citizen and repaying them with tax breaks and financial aid. I am looking forward to seeing South Korea prosper in the near future.


<Rachel Chang, Crescenta Valley High School 11th Gr>