The Republic of Korea (RoK) has announced that it will decide whether to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CP TPP), within the first half of this year after considering its impact on the national economy and consulting with member states.

RoK's Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon (Source: yonhap/VNA)

If necessary, the country will take steps for domestic procedures and also monitor other countries’ moves closely, said Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon.

The official signing of CP TPP took place in Santiago de Chile on March 8 (local time), with the participation of representatives from 11 member countries, namely Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, Japan, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Viet Nam.

CP TPP was launched a year ago after the US withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement.

The pact creates one of the world’s largest free trade blocs with a combined market of 499 million people and GDP of around 10,100 billion USD, accounting for 13.5 percent of the global GDP.

The RoK has been in preliminary negotiations to participate as an associate member in the Pacific Alliance trade bloc comprised of Mexico, Chile, Peru and Colombia.

It has already signed FTAs with Chile, Peru and Colombia but has yet to do the same with Mexico, which is the largest economy in the alliance.

Seoul will, moreover, open talks on forging a trade pact with Mercosur, South America's leading trading bloc, composed of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, in the first half of this year, reported Yonhap News.

(Source: VNA)