/CHINA: Per Yonhap: "South Korea said...>

SOUTH KOREA: /CHINA: Per Yonhap: "South Korea said Tuesday it will hold the

seventh round of talks with China this week to discuss expanding the scope of

their bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) to better cover the service and

investment sectors. The two countries will begin a four-day virtual meeting

Tuesday to "speed up" the progress amid the new coronavirus pandemic that has

virtually frozen global travel and economic activities, according to the

Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The previous meeting was held in Beijing

in November last year. Seoul and Beijing implemented the FTA in December 2015 to

lower tariffs on goods. "South Korea will help local firms penetrate deeper into

the Chinese market and make efforts to better protect their investments," a

ministry official said."