A recent analysis by a South Korean economist showed that a gradual economic integration between the two Koreas would boost the gross domestic product of the North by 16 percentage points each year. It said the GDP of the South would rise by one percentage point each year.

Sung Han-kyung, a professor of the School of Economics at the University of Seoul, detailed the report during a seminar hosted by the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP) in Seoul on Wednesday.

The report was based on the scenario that the two Koreas achieve economic integration between 2015 and 2030. 

It said the integration will go through a gradual process beginning with the signing of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement to the join the Trans-Pacific Partnership together and the sharing of the Free Trade Agreements the South has signed with other countries with the North.

Sung said the process would boost the North’s GDP by 16 percentage points each year between 2016 and 2030, while inching up the South’s GDP by around one percentage point per year.

He added that Japan would benefit most from the inter-Korean economic integration, while China can take some loss with some other countries taking over its trade with the North.