Keeping an eye on the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership forum, the Korean government is also engaging actively in the talks to form an economic bloc in Northeast and Southeast Asia.

The second round of the ASEAN-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership is scheduled to be held from next Monday to Friday in Brisbane, Australia.

Headed by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy trade negotiating director Woo Tae-hee, the delegation is to include officials from the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, the Korea Customs Service and the Fair Trade Commission.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries ― the two government organizations most vulnerable to market opening ― will also participate in the body.

RCEP, involving most ASEAN countries as well as Korea, China and Japan, is regarded by MOTIE officials a key Asia-led multilateral trade agreement which may hold in check the U.S.-led TPP frame.

It also represents the world’s fast-changing trade paradigm, which has moved from bilateral pacts to multilateral agreements.

In the past, the Korean government had been rather passive over the TPP talks, claiming that they could overlap with its already-effectuated bilateral free trade agreements with the United States and Chile.

Its stance, however, has recently turned more positive, especially since the U.S. and Japanese governments added urgency to the talks, pledging to round off the process by the end of this year.

“We will continue to participate in the RCEP negotiations, whether or not we choose to participate in the TPP forum,” said a ministry official.

The flow of the RCEP negotiations, on the other hand, is expected to heavily influence the ministry’s move on the TPP.

The RCEP was kicked off in May, when the trade ministers of the participating countries agreed to try and clinch the pact by the year 2015. The 10th and final round is to be held in Seoul in September that year.

During next week’s second round of talks, the chief negotiators will continue to discuss how to classify the detailed industrial sectors in the product, service, and investment sections, ministry officials said.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)