The World Trade Organization(WTO) is an international organization designed to supervise and liberalize international trade. The WTO came into being on January 1, 1995, and is the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade(GATT). The Republic of Korea has been a member of the World Trade Organization(WTO) since 1995.

Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Established: January 1, 1995
Created by: Uruguay Round Negotiations (1986 ~ 1994)
Membership: 153 countries on July 23, 2008
Budget: 184,257,600 Swiss Francs(CHF) for 2009
Secretariat Staff: 629(2008)
Head: Pascal Lamy (Director-General)
Functions:
  -Administering WTO trade agreements
  -Forum for trade negotiations
  -Handling trade disputes
  -Monitoring national trade policies
  -Technical assistance and training for developing countries
  -Cooperation with other international organizations

Korea and the WTO
Accession to the GATT: April 14, 1967
Accession to the WTO: January 1, 1995
Number of Koreans working in the WTO: 4
The ROK's share in the WTO: 4,589,553 CHF(2.589%) for 2009

Korea strongly supports the continued development of the open multilateral trading system. In fact, Korea is one of its most outstanding beneficiaries. The Korean economy has grown rapidly since Korea joined the GATT in 1967. This was made possible by the open trade under the GATT/WTO system. As of 1999, Korea's total trade was equivalent to approximately 65% of its GDP.

Since its accession to the GATT, Korea has been fully committed to complying with multilateral rules and obligations, and maintaining a free and open market at home. Korea actively participated in the multilateral trade negotiations of the Tokyo and Uruguay Rounds. Since the WTO's inception in 1995, the Korean government has, in cooperation with its trading partners, concluded agreements on trade in information technology products, financial services, and basic telecommunications services. In the past 2 years, the Korean government has actively participated in discussions on the New Round with the belief that an early launch of a comprehensive round is essential to the strengthening of the multilateral trading system.

Despite the serious downturn caused by the 1997 economic crisis, the ROK has continued to implement its commitments under the WTO agreements. In fact, the crisis prompted the ROK to accelerate liberalization and market opening voluntarily. Much progress was made in improving the environment for foreign direct investment(FDI). Korea is convinced that continued reform and liberalization in trade will offer the best possible path to greater prosperity and economic growth.