S. Korea to build offshore trading center for Chinese currency: envoy
China is South Korea's biggest trading partner, accounting for about one-third of the latter's exports. Earlier last month, leaders of the two nations agreed to establish a yuan-clearing system in South Korea. China also awarded 80 billion yuan ($12.98 billion) to South Korea to buy securities in China under the Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor program, Yonhap reports. "South Korea is actively preparing to build an offshore trading center for the renminbi," South Korea's Ambassador to China, Kwon Young-se, told the 21st Century Business Herald, a Chinese business daily, in an interview, referring to the official name of the Chinese currency. Kwon did not specify when the offshore trading center, which allows banks to take yuan-denominated deposits and issue yuan-denominated bonds, will be set up in South Korea, but he voiced support for China's efforts for "internationalization of the renminbi."
Kwon also reiterated that he believes South Korea and China might conclude ongoing free trade negotiations by the end of this year. The two nations began formal negotiations in May 2012 to sign a free trade deal but no significant progress has been made due to a range of issues, including who should make more concessions in tariff removal for their respective areas of interest -- agricultural and industrial goods. During last month's summit in Seoul, South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to work toward concluding the negotiations by the end of this year.
