South Korea, Mexico Eye Possible Renewal of Trade Talks

South Korea and Mexico may soon be resuming their long-stalled efforts to negotiate a bilateral trade pact, leaders from both countries said on Monday. Earlier efforts to negotiate such an accord stumbled in 2008, with little concrete movement since, with the impasse being partly blamed on disagreements relating to automobile trade. At a summit this week in Mexico, South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto both affirmed their interest in deepening bilateral economic ties. Speaking to reporters, Park said that she expects “both sides to produce good fruits by coming up with creative ways at the working-level talks for a win-win,” according to comments reported by the Korea Times, with those meetings scheduled to take place between October and December. Bilateral trade flows between the two sides have increased dramatically since 2000, when these were worth US$4 billion. Last year this number reached US$17.5 billion. The South Korean leader stressed the mutual benefits for both sides, particularly with regards to market access. Speaking to El Universal, a Mexican news outlet, Park said that a trade pact could potentially “open a new door to the markets of northeast Asia for Mexico and provide better access to markets...