Anchor: South Korea has signed a free trade agreement(FTA) with a group of five Central American countries, a first for an Asian country. The agreement means South Korean cars will become more affordable in Central America while coffee will become cheaper for South Koreans. 
Our Bae Joo-yon has more. 

Report: Minister for Trade Kim Hyun-chong and representatives from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras and Panama signed the South Korea-Central America free trade agreement(FTA) in Seoul on Wednesday. 

The adoption came nearly three years after the involved parties first launched negotiations in June 2015.

The trade ministry said it expects South Korea’s exports to the Central American countries will expand once the FTA goes into effect as under the deal, the five countries have promised to immediately or gradually remove tariffs on more than 95 percent of all products. Tariffs will be immediately waived for South Korean cars and cosmetics and gradually for steel and home appliances. 

The agreement also calls for South Korea to immediately slash tariffs on coffee and raw sugar and for bananas in five years time. 

The government will now take follow-up steps, including briefing the National Assembly and requesting parliamentary approval for ratification, with the aim of putting the trade accord into effect within the first half of the year. 

The Korea Institute for International Economic Policy estimated that the deal will raise South Korea’s real gross domestic product by two-hundredths of a percent, improve consumer welfare by nearly 700 million dollars and create two-thousand-534 jobs over the next ten years. 

In a bid to minimize damage on domestic industries, the government excluded key agricultural products, such as rice, garlic and onions, from tariff concessions. 

The ministry said the agreement will contribute to South Korean firms making inroads into the Central American market as well as establishing an FTA network that connects North and South America. 
Bae Joo-yon, KBS World Radio News.