The free trade agreement between South Korea and Chile will come into effect beginning April 1st.

The Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that the Chilean government proposed the date for the effectuation of the trade accord to which Seoul agreed to after consulting with related ministries.

Under the FTA, South Korea will immediately remove its tariffs on more than 87 percent of manufactured products from Chile with the exception of electrolyte copper. In ten years, Seoul will lift tariffs on all manufactured products as well as fisheries and forestry goods from Chile and remove tariffs on some 70 percent of Chilean agricultural products.

Meanwhile, Chile will remove tariffs on almost 42 percent of all its goods imported from Korea, including those on automobiles, mobile phones and computers.

After three failed attempts and months of protest from farmers, the National Assembly passed the FTA bill on February 16th. South Korean farmers fear that the FTA will allow cheap Chilean imports to flood the Korean markets and force them out of business.