On Wednesday, February 11, 2015, Mr. Han-Koo YEO, Deputy Chief of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of Korea, gave a lecture to the students for the FTA Business and Strategy program on the controversies of Korea joining the TPP. Mr. Yeo explained that Korea has been aiming to be a regional FTA hub for the last decade and has been successful in leading FTA negotiations with its major trading partners, including the US, EU, and China.
Korea is yet facing many other external and internal obstacles to join the TPP. As the US is the major leading country of the TPP negotiation, political factors within the US Congress and its political schedule would immensely influence the initial success of the current negotiation. While the Korea-US FTA text is considered as the golden rule in the FTAs, being a latecomer still means there would be additional costs of joining the TPP.