過去十年澳洲與南韓都是積極參與亞太地區簽訂優惠貿易協定 (preferential trade agreements，簡稱PTAs)熱潮的國家。所以，或許會令人驚訝的是，澳韓優惠貿易協定的談判卻相對起步得比較遲 。且儘管當澳洲總理吉拉德（Julia Gillard）在2011年4月訪問南韓時，與李明博（Lee Myung-bak）總統曾發表聯合公報稱「澳韓自由貿易協定的談判已至最後階段」，並「再度確認在該年內完成談判是他們共同的目標，然而直至作者完成此篇文章之際兩國仍未達成協議。 作者認為澳韓自由貿易協定談判之所以陷入僵局主要是受到以下幾個因素的影響，其一是澳洲並非南韓的重要出口市場，簽訂澳韓自由貿易協定對南韓國內的潛在利益不大，以致於以出口為導向的利益團體不易被政府動員來支持該協定的簽署。其二是時機對澳韓自由貿易協定談判不利 ，尤其是澳韓自由貿易協定的自由化有可能給南韓來帶來比澳洲較大的負面政治衝擊。澳韓自由貿易協定要想成功地完成端賴兩國政府是否有能力與意願來擋住農業利益團體的遊說。

Both Australia and the Republic of Korea (hereafter Korea) have been enthusiastic participants in the rush to negotiate preferential trade agreements (PTAs) that has occurred across the Asia-Pacific region in the last decade. It is perhaps surprising, therefore, that negotiations between the two countries for a PTA were relatively late in beginning. And despite President Lee Myung-bak and Prime Minister Julia Gillard issuing a communique in April 2011, when Gillard visited Korea, which asserted that “negotiations on an Australia-Korea free trade agreement were now in their final stage” and “reaffirmed their joint goal to conclude the negotiations this year”, an agreement still had not been concluded at the time of finalizing this article (September 2012).