hankyoreh

On May 24, the Korea International Trade Association issued a report about five potential emerging export markets for South Korea, naming specifically the countries of Poland, Slovakia, Turkey, Vietnam and Malaysia. If these countries - or the "PoST-VM" nations, a combination of the letters in their name - could inherit the emerging-market status of Korea’s currently referenced export markets in the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China), the report said.

The association picked the five nations after assessing 14 of the most potential nations in terms of marketability, growth potential, and suitability in trade structure. In order to select the 14 nations, the trade body looked at South Korea’s top 40 export destinations and then removed from that list Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) member nations, which are more economically developed, as well as BRIC nations.

Shin Seung-gwan, head of a research team at the association, said, "The five new nations chosen have common ground, as a rise in foreign direct investment, double-digit economic growth, and [a jump in] the import growth rate are all anticipated there, and their markets are well matched with our exports."

Shin continued, "The PoST-VM nations are very attractive as our next-generation export market. Amid years of fierce competition in the BRIC markets, the attractiveness of that group of nations has deteriorated. We should take a preemptive measure on potential emerging markets by increasing political cooperation or upgrading the image of ‘Made in Korea’ goods," Shin suggested.



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