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A series of free trade talks between South Korea and the European Union are taking place in Seoul from 7 to 11 May.

[…]EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and South Korean trade minister Kim Hyun-Chong both called for rapid progress in free trade negotiations. Officials hope to conclude negotiations within a year. […]The European Union is South Korea’s biggest investor, injecting nearly $5bn into the country last year, Seoul’s foreign ministry said.
(source: BBC)

Disappointed by the failure of the Doha round, the latest round of talks in the World Trade Organization, the Asian countries increasingly are signing bilateral and regional free trade agreements.

According to the Asian Development Bank, 150 bilateral free trade agreements had either been signed or were under negotiation last year in Asia.
And more than 40 trade deals were either signed or negotiated by groupings of more than two countries.  The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, for example, aims to abolish tariffs by 2015 under a regional trade deal, and is negotiating agreements with China, Japan, and South Korea.

The mushrooming of free trade pacts in the past few years is partly a defensive response to regional trading blocs elsewhere in the world, such as the European Union or the North American Free Trade Agreement. (source)

According to a poll performed by Gallup Korea, more than 60 percent of South Koreans (61.5 percent) believe the recently-concluded free trade deal with the United States will benefit their country.
This figure is eight percentage points higher than in February.

The poll was commissioned by the KORUS FTA Industry Alliance, a private pro-free trade organization.
(source)

U.S. banks, insurers, pharmaceutical companies and other businesses announced their support for a free-trade agreement with South Korea […] The agreement reached early this month in Seoul would eliminate duties on products such as South Korean autos and apparel and reduce investment barriers for U.S. insurers and banks. South Korea would phase out its tariffs on beef and pork. […]

However, U.S. automakers, farmers and lawmakers said they opposed it and vowed to get it rejected unless it was reworked to address their needs.
(source).

The European Commission has today welcomed the formal adoption by European Member States of negotiating mandates for a new generation of Free Trade Agreements with India, South Korea and ASEAN.

New independent research released by the European Commission today suggests that the agreements could add more than 40 billion euros to EU exports annually and provide wide new trade opportunities for all sides.

The European Commission, which will negotiate on behalf of EU Member states, expects to launch negotiations in the months to come.
(source: europa.eu)

After signing a free trade pact with the United States, South Korea is to start talks with the European Union on forging a free trade agreement.

“The two sides are now taking their final steps … and I think talks will begin during the first 10 days of next month,” Kim Han-Soo, head of the free trade bureau at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, told a radio program.

Kim said a deal with the EU may be easier since both sides are likely to propose “many exceptions” in agricultural goods. Seoul managed to exclude its politically sensitive rice crop from the US deal.
(Source).

The United States reached its biggest free trade agreement since NAFTA on Monday, clinching a last-minute deal with South Korea that it hopes will bolster bilateral ties and re-energize the Doha Round of global trade talks. […]

The deal, which requires approval by lawmakers in both countries, is the biggest for Washington since the North American Free Trade Agreement signed in 1993, and is expected to lead to more than 90% of U.S. exports to South Korea being duty free within three years.

It is the biggest trade deal ever for South Korea, which in nearly 50 years has grown from one of the world’s poorest countries to become its 10th-largest economy. […] South Korea and the U.S. agreed to eliminate and lower tariffs and other trade barriers in a wide range of industrial goods and services, including automobiles, agricultural products and financial services.
The agreement also covered sectors such as e-commerce. (source: usatoday.com)