In response to intensifying conflict with the United States and the shock of Covid-19, China reinforced its strategy to expand domestic demand. China's domestic market is an important factor affecting Korea's exports and economic growth. Accordingly, a large body of research has been conducted in Korea on China's expansion policy and changes in its domestic market. However, most studies have analyzed changes in China's consumer market, import market and imported items, limiting the overall understanding of China's domestic economy. In addition, most studies on China's regional domestic market have analyzed the market segmented by region. Recognizing this gap, this study expanded the scope of analysis of the domestic market in China to the entire domestic final demand, and analyzed inter-regional trade relations and other economic relations based on an inter-regional input-output analysis, which has rarely been attempted in analyses of the Chinese domestic market. In addition, the changes in the regional structure of the Chinese import market and Korea's competitiveness were analyzed using Chinese trade statistics. In particular, by synthesizing the changes after the global financial crisis, a turning point in China's economic structure, we project future changes in the regional economic structure of China, which emphasizes the independence of its domestic economy. In addition, in the era of US-China conflict, the study aimed to select regional markets meaningful to Korea, and to present strategic directions toward China focusing on regional cooperation and approaches into the domestic market.
Over the past several decades, the six member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have implemented economic policies for industrial diversification to lessen severe dependence on the oil industry. Such policy efforts have been driven by their awareness of macro-economic and structural risks from heavy volatilities in international oil markets in terms of fiscal and trade sectors. For instance, the drop in international oil prices reduces export performance in the oil and natural gas sectors, which in turn results in a decline in the stability of fiscal revenue. The recent trends of low oil prices since 2014, as well as high unemployment rates, have strengthened the policy regime for industrial diversification and job creation supported by mid- to long-term economic plans of the GCC countries. This report reviews what has been emphasized in the areas of industrial, employment, trade and investment policies. We then derive implications for Korean companies and policymakers for sustainable cooperation between Korea and the Middle East.
The growing economic power and geo-strategic significance of the Indo-Pacific have generated active engagement of major powers with the region. Under the New Southern Policy (NSP) unveiled in 2017, Korea has also sought to upgrade its relations with ASEAN and India by boosting economic ties, socio-cultural exchanges and cooperation in the area of peace and security. While an earlier version of the NSP focused on bilateral cooperation with targeted countries, it now looks to collaborate with other players in addressing the needs of ASEAN and India. In particular, as the United States seeks partnerships with its key allies in advancing the Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy (FOIP), there has been growing interest in cooperation between the FOIP and the NSP. Initially, the Korean government took an ambiguous stance toward the FOIP, but agreed to work together with the U.S. by building synergies between the NSP and the FOIP. However, given the strategic nature of the FOIP as a counterbalance to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and attendant concerns about the FOIP in the region, particularly in ASEAN ‒ the key partner of the NSP ‒, close collaboration with the FOIP poses some challenges for the NSP in terms of addressing regional sensitivity to it. Against this backdrop, by exploring how the FOIP is perceived by NSP-targeted countries and clarifying their cooperation needs, this study provides policy recommendations on how the ROK-U.S. partnership should be advanced in the region.
In 2010, Korea's authorities announced foreign exchange-related macroprudential measures (MPMs) aimed at building resilience against external financial shocks. These measures have greatly contributed to limit systemic risk by curbing excessive capital inflows. Twelve years have passed since the global financial crisis started and ten years after the introduction of Korea's FX-related macro-prudential policy measures. Accordingly, this study check the performance and effectiveness of these policies and discuss how to improve macroprudential measures in response to emerging external risks.
The importance of intellectual property rights (IPRs) for innovation has grown and the protection of intellectual property in international trade has also been strengthened. AI-related patent applications have been increasing rapidly and many AI patents are being filed in various industries. Intellectual property also represents one of the main controversies of U.S.-China trade relations in the past three decades and remains one of the core issues behind the two countries’ recent trade conflicts. As a result, global protection for IPRs has been expanded in recent decades. This article investigates changes in the trend regarding the IP protection level in FTA and how the IP protection through FTAs has affected the composition of aggregate trade flows of member countries in order to provide basic findings necessary to formulate the FTA policies regarding the protection of IPRs in Korea.
