Chile and South Korea Resume Trade Dialogue After Ten-Year Pause

Chile and the Republic of Korea held the 11th meeting of the bilateral Free Trade Commission (FTC), aimed at reviewing the implementation and compliance of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries, in force since April 2004. This was the first session of this body since 2016, following a decade without meetings.

The meeting was led by Felipe Lopeandía, Director General of Bilateral Economic Affairs at Chile's Undersecretariat for International Economic Relations, and by Park Geun-oh, Director General of Trade Agreement Policy at South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The meeting follows up on the commitment made during the visit to Chile by South Korean President Lee Jae Myung this past July.

The meeting made it possible to review progress in trade integration between the two countries and to explore opportunities to deepen bilateral economic ties, amid the challenges and opportunities of the current international landscape. As a concrete outcome, Chile and South Korea agreed to carry out a joint impact study of the FTA, which will serve as input to identify improvements and move forward with the modernization of their economic relations. Lopeandía highlighted that it was a valuable meeting that allowed for a direct and comprehensive dialogue on the state of trade relations.

The FTA, in force since 2004, was the first agreement of its kind between an Asian and a Latin American country and has provided a stable institutional framework for the bilateral relationship. In 2025, trade in goods between the two countries reached US$6,990 million, with Chilean exports of US$5,190 million and imports from Korea of US$1,800 million. Between 2020 and 2025, bilateral trade grew at an average annual rate of 6.1%.

The relationship is built on complementary economic strengths: Chile supplies mineral resources and agricultural, forestry and fishery products, while South Korea provides manufactured goods, vehicles and industrial inputs. In 2025, Chilean exports included copper concentrates, refined copper, molybdenum, lithium products and cellulose, while imports from Korea included diesel, vehicles, sulfuric acid and steel products.