State-run economic thinktanks of South Korea and China agreed Sunday to conduct a feasibility study on establishing a free trade zone between the two Asian economies. The Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP) and the Development Research Center, run by China's state council, signed a memorandum of understanding in Beijing to launch the study until 2006, to push for a free trade pact, KIEP said in a statement.
Trade between China and South Korea, Asia's second and third largest economies, stood at 79.4 billion dollars in 2004, according to Seoul's foreign ministry data.
China is South Korea's biggest trade partner.
Seoul has also pushed for separate free trade deals with Asia's biggest economy Japan and Singapore.