North Korea Products manufactured in the Gaeseong Industrial Complex will receive preferential tariffs in the free trade agreement (FTA) between Korea and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). On May 16, the trade and negotiation headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade announced that a product trade agreement of the Korea- ASEAN FTA, which includes such details, was concluded during a meeting of Korea and ASEAN trade ministers held in Manila, the Philippines. This Korea-ASEAN product trade agreement is the fourth FTA to be reached after the FTAs with Chile, Singapore, and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Korea now has FTAs with a total of 15 countries. Regarding the product trade agreement of the Korea-ASEAN FTA concluded this time, the government plans to make it effective after going through the procedure of the ratification agreement of the National Assembly as soon as the official signatures of the participating countries are completed without any relation to the service and investment agreement being pursued at present. By including the provision that preferential tariffs will be levied on products manufactured in the Gaeseong Industrial Complex, as a matter of principle, in the letter of agreement, the agreement this time recognizes that products manufactured in the complex are 'made in Korea', following such agreements as those with Singapore and EFTA. Meanwhile, ASEAN is the fourth largest importer of Korean products, at US$27.4 billion per year, ahead of Japan. It is also the fifth largest exporter to Korea at US$26 billion per year. Korea ranks the third highest after the United State and China in terms of the investments and entries into the region at US$13.6 billion per year. The Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP) forecast that exports to the ASEAN will increase by about US$10 billion and that the trade surplus with the ASEAN will increase by about US$6 billion due to the recent conclusion of the Korea-ASEAN FTA.