South Korea's Lee rules out CPTPP application this year as farm talks continue

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung ordered his government on Thursday, October 8, not to apply for membership in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in 2026, his spokesperson said in Seoul. The decision gives ministers more time to discuss the proposed trade agreement with farmers and fishers, whose livelihoods could be affected by increased imports. It leaves open whether South Korea will eventually seek to join.

Presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said in a written briefing that Lee had instructed the government not to apply within the year. He also urged ministries to listen to farmers and fishers and continue discussions without setting a deadline, according to Yonhap News Agency. The instruction followed a Cabinet discussion on Tuesday, October 6.

Why the 2026 application timetable changed

The timing mattered because officials at the Cabinet meeting said a plan for a public hearing would have needed to appear in the official gazette by mid-October for South Korea's membership to be considered at a CPTPP ministerial conference in November, Yonhap reported. Lee's order removes an application this year from that timetable. It does not settle the broader question of accession.

A senior presidential office official told the Seoul Economic Daily that the instruction amounted to a hold while the government prepared measures to reduce potential harm to farmers and fishers. The official said the move should not be read as abandoning the accession effort. A governing-bloc official told the paper that the schedule should not drive the decision and that protective measures should be prepared before negotiations. The paper's English report is an AI translation of its Korean reporting, so those officials' remarks are paraphrased here.

What the trade projections say about gains and costs

The CPTPP has 12 members, including Japan, Mexico, Australia, Canada and Vietnam. South Korea's government has been reviewing whether to join the pact, which its spokesperson described as a priority option amid changes in international trade. The government also faces opposition from farming and fishing industries concerned that cheaper imported products could erode income and domestic production, Yonhap reported.

A government projection cited by Yonhap and the Seoul Economic Daily estimates that membership would raise South Korea's gross domestic product by 0.38 percentage point over ten years and increase manufacturing production by 6.7 trillion won a year for 15 years. It also estimates that agricultural and fisheries production would fall by about 850 billion won annually. These figures describe a forecast of possible effects after entry, rather than gains or losses already recorded.

Those competing estimates help explain why the application timetable has become contentious. The expected manufacturing benefit and the projected decline in farm and fishery output concern different parts of the economy. Kang said trade policy is directly connected to people's lives and must rest on the trust and shared understanding of farmers and fishers. The cited reports do not detail the projection's underlying assumptions, so its figures cannot establish what any individual producer would gain or lose.

What happens before any CPTPP membership decision

An application would be only one step. The Seoul Economic Daily reported that joining requires agreement from every current member and, after an application, further procedures including an accession working group and talks on opening markets. It also reported that existing members could seek substantial agricultural market access. Song said rice would be treated as a priority in that discussion.

The immediate decision is therefore limited but consequential: ministries have been told not to submit an application in 2026 and to keep consulting the affected sectors. No timetable for finishing that work has been announced in the cited reports, and the government has not specified what compensation or safeguards it might offer. Whether South Korea applies later, and on what terms it would negotiate, remains undecided.