South Korea to have preliminary talks on joining TPP - Yonhap

South Korea plans to enter into preliminary negotiations on a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact and will inform the main countries involved of its intention, Yonhap news agency quoted the finance minister as saying on Friday. "We will express our interest in the TPP," Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok was quoted as telling reporters, referring to the trade negotiations. The TPP, which would include Australia, Brunei, Chile, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam in addition to the United States, would establish a free-trade bloc stretching across a region that makes up nearly 40 percent of the global economy. South Korea, the world's 15th-largest economy and seventh-largest exporter, has signed bilateral free trade agreements with both the United States and the European Union.

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