South Korea’s trade policy imperatives: the impact of COVID-19 pandemic

The article analyses the goals and imperatives of the Republic of Korea’s trade policy before the COVID-19 pandemic and taking into account its consequences. The RoK's trade policy aims to synchronize the interests of the state, conglomerates and small and medium-sized enterprises. For this purpose, a system of division of powers in the field of trade policy and diplomacy has been designed, which has proven to be very effective. The COVID-19 situation, which has exacerbated the growing trend of protectionism in international trade, highlighted the chronic structural problems of trade in the Republic of Korea of trade in the area of geographical and commodity structure – despite the positive dynamics of the country's exports. The challenge of countering protectionism, coupled with the need to diversify the commodity and geographic structure of exports, implies two areas of work: strengthening an industrial structure capable of producing competitive goods and expanding the network of free trade agreements. The need to address logistical problems, digitalization, and the trend towards decarbonization forces Korea to rely more heavily on the idea of promoting free trade. The country's leadership continues to criticize protectionism, guided by the idea of a balanced use of bilateral and multilateral instruments of liberalization.