Anchor: South Korea and the United Kingdom agreed to maintain current agreements on free trade regardless of the circumstances of the U.K.’s scheduled departure from the European Union, providing a clearer picture of Seoul’s future relationship with its second-largest EU trading partner and providing assurances to South Korea’s auto industry.
Celina Yoon has more. 

Report: South Korea's Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee and her British counterpart Liam Fox announced after a meeting in Seoul on Monday that the two countries agreed in principle on a Korea-U.K. free trade agreement(FTA).

Under the terms of the agreement, the two countries will enjoy the same benefits provided under the current Korea-EU FTA, regardless of the nature of Britain's divorce from the European bloc, scheduled to be finalized in October.

Automobiles, for instance, were to be subject to ten percent tariffs in case of a "no-deal" Brexit, but the settlement reached Monday freed the industry from such a contingency.

South Korean automakers were especially concerned over tariffs that could have resulted from a hard Brexit, as they exported one-point-six trillion won worth of automobiles to the U.K. last year. 

Yoo said that the deal is significant as it eased uncertainties sparked by Brexit, with exporters already facing challenges triggered by the escalating trade dispute between Washington and Beijing. 

Fox said he expects the agreement to lay the foundations for further expanding trade between the two countries.

Britain is Korea's second-largest trade partner in the EU, and trade between the two totaled 14-point-five trillion won last year. 

The Trade Ministry said that it will accelerate domestic procedures so that the Korea-U.K. FTA will take effect before the U.K.’s departure from the European bloc.

The two countries also agreed to strengthen cooperation in strategic areas such as artificial intelligence, big data, energy, automobiles and agriculture. 
Celina Yoon, KBS World Radio News.