The Korea – EU Free Trade Agreement, ten years later.

Abstract

The free trade agreement signed between the European Union and South Korea in 2011 marked an important milestone in the economic and political relations between Europe and Asia. The European Union was able to secure a foothold in Asia by signing its first deal with an Asian country, while South Korea expanded its export market. The aim of the thesis is to verify if and how this agreement has changed the respective flows of imports and exports and to analyse their evolution, not only in an economic but in a geopolitical scenario. To this end, the first part provides an introduction and overview of the agreement itself, in order to understand its functioning and the steps that led to its signature. The economic relations between the EU and South Korea will then be analysed starting from the negotiations of the agreement, highlighting the different effects on the productive sectors. The document then dwells on the political aspects, compares the EU-Korea Free Trade Agreement with the Korea-US one, dwelling on the different reasons behind it and what they represent not only for the present but also for the future of the free market. Finally, this elaborate seeks to understand how and in which way this agreement changes the market flows between European Union and Republic of Korea, what might be the new challenges for the following years and how this agreement have influenced also the world political scenario and how it may affect the next moves of EU and South Korea.