From Road Map 2003 to the New Road Map 2013: Two-level Game Analysis of Korea s FTA Policy

From Road Map 2003 to the New Road Map 2013: Two-level Game Analysis of Korea s FTA Policy

This paper provides a general overview of Korea s free trade agreement (FTA) policy from the perspective of level I and II negotiations. This paper reviews Korea s 10 FTAs signed between 2003 and 2013 through two-leve l game analysis. It analyzed Korea s FTA negotiations under the Five-Factor Model, and assessed the level of difficulty in each of the FTAs Korea has signed and ratified. This paper concludes that domestic political factors and the government-led FTA experience are key driving factors as the country seeks to achieve greater levels of trade liberalization. Furthermore, there were both economic and institutional achievements during the 10 years. In level II negotiation, Korea also reached a higher level of democracy along with a more detailed form of domestic conflict management by implementing the Act on Trade Treaty Conclusion Procedure and Implementation in order to conduct FTAs in a more legitimate and systematic way. With the help of both road maps, Korea certainly has created a new vision with specific action plans toward a globalized world. Since Korea s goal of becoming an advanced open trading economy is still being pursued, the country has no way but to adapt to the changing global economic environment with more thorough preparation and sophisticated strategies. It also has to have the capacity to provide democratic and systematic measures that deal with the domestic reactions that result from trade liberalization.