China South Korea Photo:VCG

South Korea and China are set to hold the 13th round of follow-up negotiations on services and investment under the South Korea-China Free Trade Agreement (FTA) from Monday to Friday, according to a statement by South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources on Monday.

A Chinese expert said that it demonstrated the continuous efforts by China and South Korea to promote deeper economic and trade cooperation exchanges, noting that bilateral collaboration is mutually beneficial and win-win in nature.

According to the statement, a delegation of about 30 members from both countries will participate in these negotiations. Building on the agreement reached during a summit between the leaders of the two countries in Beijing on January 5, and to make meaningful progress in the follow-up negotiations within the year, both sides plan to accelerate the negotiations on the agreement text and market opening in the three sectors - services, investment, and finance - during this round of talks, per the statement.

The South Korean government stated that it plans to hold official negotiations involving all relevant ministries from both countries on a regular basis, such as every other month, to accelerate the pace of negotiations. It will approach these negotiations with the aim of ensuring the follow-up talks lay the foundation for a free and open environment for trade in services and investment, the statement said.

As of press time, the Chinese government has not yet released relevant information.

According to China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) on June 27, 2025, the 12th round of the second phase negotiations on the China-South Korea FTA was held in Seoul, South Korea, from June 23 to 27, 2025. Both sides conducted in-depth consultations on cross-border services trade, investment, financial services, and negative list market access, achieving positive progress.

The China-South Korea FTA entered into force on December 20, 2015, and has strongly promoted the growth of trade and investment between the two countries. Both sides are committed to achieving a high level of liberalization in services trade and investment through the second phase negotiations, the MOFCOM said on June 27.

"Both China and South Korea are consistently pushing forward the second phase negotiations of the China-South Korea FTA, which is also a concrete manifestation of implementing the consensus reached by both sides following South Korean President Lee Jae-myung's visit to China," Lü Chao, a professor at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Monday.

He Yadong, spokesperson for the MOCFOM, told a press conference on January 8 that during Lee's visit to China, China's Ministry of Commerce and South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Establishing a China-South Korea Economic and Trade Cooperation Dialogue Mechanism and the Memorandum of Understanding on Deepening Cooperation on China-South Korea Industrial Parks.

The MOCFOM will accelerate efforts to achieve substantive progress at an early date in the second-phase negotiations of the China-South Korea FTA, He Yadong noted.

Lü noted that promoting market opening in services, investment and finance, as reported in South Korea's statement, will bring win-win results and enhance the breadth and depth of bilateral trade cooperation.

"China can draw on South Korea's experience in services and investment to further promote the high-quality development of its industries. For South Korea, the services sector, financial management, and related fields represent its comparative advantages in foreign trade and economic cooperation, and gaining access to China's vast market constitutes a significant opportunity," the expert said.

Noting the plan to hold official negotiations on a regular basis like every other month, as mentioned in the statement, Lü said that it reflects the strong intention of China and South Korea to further strengthen economic, trade, and cooperation exchanges. "If a regular mechanism can be established, it is expected that the negotiation process will be further accelerated, thereby promoting substantive cooperation in key areas such as finance and services," he noted.

He Yadong said that China-South Korea economic and trade ties are close, with deeply intertwined industrial and supply chains. New business formats and models of cooperation continued to emerge, gradually becoming new highlights and new engines driving bilateral cooperation.