[Photo] South Korea begins trade agreement negotiations with Mercorsur

South Korea officially launched into negotiations to form a trade agreement with the trade bloc Mercosur, which comprises Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, on May 25 at the Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas hotel. Preparatory negotiations for the agreement lasted around 14 years. The Mercorsur trade bloc was formulated in 1991 and accounts for around 70 percent of the South America’s population and 76 percent of the continent’s GDP. The photo pictures South Korean Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong posing with Brazilian Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade Marcos Jorge de Lima, Argentinian Secretary for International Economic Relations of the Argentine Foreign Minister Horacio Reyser, Paraguayan Foreign Minister Eladio Loizaga Caballero, Uruguayan Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa.