CRI听力:China-Australia, China-South Korea FTAs Take Effect Today

The new free trade agreement between China and South Korea has officially come into effect as of today.

Park Tae Ho with Seoul National University says the signing of the free-trade pact makes sense for South Korea at this point in its development.

"With impressive achievements though, the South Korean economy only accounts for 1.8 percent of the global total. South Korea won't be able to lift its per capita income to 30,000 US dollars by relying on domestic market only. It should go global and exploit broader export markets. So it's a necessary choice for us to establish FTA."

As part of the agreement, tariffs on more than 90 percent goods traded between China and South Korea will be eliminated over the next 20-years.

South Korean analysis suggests the country's manufacturers are going to see their overall export growth increase by 1.35-billion U.S. dollars over the next 12-months.

China is South Korea's largest trading partner, with South Korea importing around one-quarter of all their products from China.