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![[AP]](http://thebricspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/china-korea-300x169.jpg)
China is South Korea’s biggest trade partner [AP]
The five-day talks will be held at the Songdo international business district in Incheon, close to the South Korean capital city Seoul.
Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks received a significant push during South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s state visit to Beijing in June.
China is the country’s biggest trade partner.
The two Asian nations completed first-stage negotiations in early September after seven rounds of talks and agreed on the modality, or basic guidelines for the Sino-Korea FTA.
The second round talks will discuss items that will be liberalised by lowering or removing tariff barriers.
Seoul and Beijing have agreed to abolish tariffs on 90 per cent of all products in terms of the number of items, and 85 per cent of imports in terms of their monetary value.
South Korea’s exports to Beijing accounted for a quarter of its total exports last year.
Since the two nations established diplomatic ties in 1992, their annual trade has grown almost 50 times and reached $256 billion in 2012.
China is also pushing for an upgrade of its FTA with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) — its third largest trading partner
The China-ASEAN agreement is the largest free trade area in the world in terms of population and third largest in terms of nominal GDP.
Source: Agencies
