Prime minister says Korea 'positively' considering joining trans-Pacific trade pact
Published: 10 Sep. 2025, 16:50
![Prime Minister Kim Min-seok speaks at the Korea Exchange in Seoul on Monday during a meeting regarding the activation of capital markets. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/09/10/d6bff12b-e190-48b7-a46b-b72c487c5a43.jpg)
Prime Minister Kim Min-seok speaks at the Korea Exchange in Seoul on Monday during a meeting regarding the activation of capital markets. [YONHAP]
Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said Korea was positively considering joining a trans-Pacific trade pact in a bid to bolster economic cooperation with Japan.
Kim remarked to Japan's Nikkei newspaper that Korea was reviewing joining the 12-member Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), but the prime minister declined to disclose when Seoul would apply to join the pact.
The CPTPP is a major trans-Pacific trade agreement comprising 12 countries, including Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico and Vietnam.
In 2022, the Korean government decided to push for the country's entry to the CPTPP, but Seoul failed to submit a formal application for membership due to opposition from the agriculture and fisheries sectors and a strained relationship with Japan.
Observers say Tokyo could press Seoul to lift its import restrictions on seafood from Fukushima and nearby regions, which it has maintained since 2013 due to radiation resulting from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant meltdown as part of the CPTPP accession process.
"We have been adhering to the standards and inspections set by the relevant Korean agencies," Kim said in a remark the newspaper viewed as suggesting Korea's intention to keep the restrictions in place for now.
Asked about the possibility of an inter-Korean summit, Kim said it would be "more realistic" to prioritize talks between the United States and North Korea rather than pursuing dialogue between the two Koreas.
He also stressed that the transfer of wartime operational control from Washington to Seoul will be determined "based on mutual assessment between the two countries," saying South Korea should be prepared to proceed with the handover "at any time."
Yonhap
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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