Trade networks in East Asia have come to form the basis of a community in the absence of deep political and security ties. At the same time, competing trade networks between the United States and China have put pressure on countries like South Korea to examine their future trade policies more carefully. East Asia Institute (EAI) brought together Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Research Panel in November 2012 to evaluate the past ten years of South Korea’s FTA policies and devise more suitable future FTA strategies for South Korea that would better promote its economic interests.

To coincide with the launching of the newly-established Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy, the panel held a conference to present its policy recommendations from the research and discussed further proposals with the current government officials and policy experts on trade. EAI FTA Research Panel led by Yul Sohn (Chair, EAI Center for Japan Studies; Dean, Graduate School of International Studies at Yonsei University) is comprised of Chaesung Chun (Chair, EAI Asia Security Initiative Research Center; Professor, Seoul National University), Seungjoo Lee (Professor, Chung-Ang University), Yong Wook Lee (Professor, Korea University), Yul Sohn, and Yeongkwan Song (Fellow, Korea Development Institute).