本文主旨在探討未來南韓與包含巴西（Brazil）、阿根廷（Argentina）、烏拉圭（Uruguay）、巴拉圭（Paraguay）4國在內的南錐共同市場（South American Common Market, MERCOSUR）舉行自由貿易協定（free trade agreement, FTA）協商的前景。雖然迄今雙方並無明確表示是否要展開FTA協商，但本文將首先試圖透過檢視南錐共同市場的組織特徵、談判機制以及該組織與其他區域外貿易伙伴達成FTA協商模式來剖析南韓與南錐共同市場FTA協商的意義，然後揣摩雙方舉行協商所可能面臨的問題，最後則是就南錐共同市場的談判立場與策略來預測未來可能出現的各種情境。 在本文撰寫之際，南韓與南錐共同市場並未承諾或協議舉行雙邊FTA協商。基本上，烏拉圭是4國中對雙邊FTA最積極的南錐共同市場成員，其次是巴拉圭，而阿根廷政府的立場則由正面轉至中立。至於巴西，最在意南韓與南錐共同市場FTA所可能對其國內產業所造成的負面衝擊，所以對簽署此一FTA採取最被動的姿態。因此，南韓與南錐共同市場FTA未來發展的軌道將受到世界貿易組織（WTO）杜哈發展議程（DDA）的協商、美洲國家自由貿易區（Free Trade Area of the Americas, or FTAA）、南錐共同市場與歐洲聯盟（EU）FTA談判進程以及南錐共同市場的政策選擇等諸多因素的影響。

Since 2004, Korea has concluded free trade agreements (FTAs) with Chile, Singapore, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), United States (US), and European Union among others. FTA negotiations with Japan and Mexico are yet to be completed. The FTA with the US is on the parliamentary agenda for ratification in US. At this writing, the Korean government is negotiating FTA negotiations with Australia, New Zealand, and Peru. It has seriously studied negotiations with China and MERCOSUR among other further trade partners. Without any doubt, the purpose for which Korea takes the so-called “simultaneous-multiple FTA policy” is to lay ground to securing overseas markets and strengthening Korean industries’ international competitiveness for the ultimate sustainable growth of the Korean economy on the wake of the financial crisis of 1997-1998. The Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR), as a regional trade arrangement (RTA) between Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay since 1991, has made meaningful successes characterized by increased intraregional trade and inflows of foreign direct investments. Especially, the Brazilian economy’s rise, along with other larger developing economies such as China and India, has drawn the world’s attention to MERCOSUR as an important market and as a prospective trade negotiation partner. MERCOSUR concluded FTAs with neighboring economies including Chile and Bolivia, and preferential trade agreements (PTAs) with India and the South African Customs Union (SACU). Although currently at a stalemate for almost two years, MERCOSUR’s negotiation of FTAs with the US and EU had carried the potential of affecting global trade relations. Under this context of new opportunities and threats, Korea’s government decided to pursue an FTA with MERCOSUR. Korea as a trading economy needed to secure the market of MERCOSUR, whose importance in Korea’s trade structure had substantially grown since the 1990s. Korea’s market search in South America was boosted by the trade liberalization, stable economic growth, and expanded purchasing power of consumers in Brazil and Argentina (Kim 2003). On the occasion of President Roh Moo-hyun's official visits to South American countries in November 2004, the leaders of Korea, Brazil, and Argentina finally reached an agreement in principle on the desirability of enhanced trade arrangements among them. Korea as a dynamic economy was to be an attractive platform in Asia to the South American countries. Subsequently, Korea and MERCOSUR launched a joint feasibility study on a trade agreement, which was officially completed as late as November 2007. The objective of this paper is to explore the future prospects of FTA negotiation between the two parties. There has not been clear indication whether both parties will proceed with the FTA negotiation. But this paper will try to derive implications for that process by examining the organizational features and negotiation mechanism of MERCOSUR and the way in which MERCOSUR has made FTA negotiations with their extra-regional trade partners. It will then explore possible issues of Korea-MERCOSUR FTA negotiations, and forecast negotiation scenarios, with MERCOSUR's negotiating stance and strategy taken into consideration. The statistics analyzed here will be based on those of the years of FTA discussion between Korea and MERCOSUR, though somewhat outdated, to set this work in the framework of original policy considerations.