South Korea has agreed to resume free trade talks with a group of Arab countries after a decade of hiatus. 

According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Wednesday, Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo and Secretary General Nayef Falah M. Al-Hajraf of the Gulf Cooperation Council(GCC) announced a joint statement to that effect at a meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The GCC is a regional political and economic union comprising six countries -- Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain. 

South Korea and the GCC agreed to seek a free trade agreement(FTA) in 2007 and held three rounds of talks between 2008 and 2009. But negotiations halted after the council announced a suspension in 2010.    

Under the latest agreement, the two sides will discuss details of the planned negotiations and take necessary internal steps. Trade volume between South Korea and the GCC came to 46-point-six billion U.S. dollars in 2020.