한ㆍ중ㆍ일 FTA(자유무역협정)에 의한 경제통합 추진과 한민족 경제공동체 구성에 관한 연구

Promoting an Economic Unification based upon Free Trade Agreements arranged among Korea, Japan and China, and the Prospect of Establishing an Economic Community for the Korean People

Recently, the foundation of the World Trade Organization prompted the world to promote and encourage free trades everywhere. Yet several regions, in which the countries share not only geographic but also cultural similarities and not to mention common economic interests, are showing the development of certain exclusive regional economy blocks that are usually referred to as Free Trade Agreements(FTA). And that kind of trend is getting continuously stronger. This trend of regional coalitions in economic terms directly represents significant implications for Korea which is not a member of any of such economic coalitions. It is imperative for us more than ever to bring together a prompt and effective counter plans for such coalitions‘ advances. Our responses should be finding ways to effectively utilize the situations caused by such economic coalitions’ buildups, such as efficiently responding to the changing nature of the trades, and also to the newly generated kinds of trades, in order to amplify the Korean interests in such trades as much as possible. Also, we should contemplate upon building an economic cooperation block of our own inside the Northeast Asian region, as a more aggressive and active course of action. The Northeast Asian region is currently not showing any visible achievements in such efforts, but the area is being newly reviewed for its economic potentials, and is being recognized as a region which would probably and quite possibly lead the economic developments that would mark the prosperity of the so-called Pacific era in the 21st century. The notion itself, shared not only by outer forces but also countries inside the region, is encouraging the member countries of this region to actively participate in recent discussions and debates over the issue of establishing an economic cooperation system or even an economic block for the region. The Second Korea-China Economy Forum, jointly arranged by both countries, was held in April 27th and 28th last year. Total of 119 businessmen and government officials joined the conference from China, and 162 Korean businessmen, officials and scholars attended as well. The gathered attendants engaged themselves in an active and also sincere debate regarding the issue of establishing a certain level of economic unification throughout the Northeast Asian region, and also establishing a free trade agreement between Korea and China. In this article, the issue of establishing a Free Trade Agreement among Korea, Japan and China, namely the three prominent countries of the Northeast Asian region, that have not only been close to each other in terms of both geographical distances and cultural exchanges, but also shared an economic relationship that would prove vital in supporting and augmenting each other‘s interests in the future, is examined. Also examined, is the issue that is being explored in the current discussions, namely the issue of establishing a regional economic community for the Korean people.