There's room for growth in relationship between Iowa and South Korea.

December 30 , 2003 – Stories about the horrors of the global marketplace abound in media coverage of
today's "jobless" recovery about the exodus of U.S. jobs to overseas locations.

It's true that whether you're doing business on Main Street, Iowa, or making a living in downtown Seoul, South Korea, our intensely competitive economy can provide more than its share of challenges. It can also, however, provide
extraordinary opportunities for those willing to seek out new relationships and markets.

When Iowans look abroad for potential markets their attention most often settles on the United States' leading trade partners: Canada, Japan, Mexico and Germany. South Koreans who set their sight on markets within the massive U.S. economy naturally turn to the largest states, led by California.

That's not to say that Iowa and South Korea don't already enjoy a mutually beneficial trade relationship. South Korea was Iowa's eighth-largest trade partner in 2002, accounting for $118 million in sales. We think there's plenty
going on inside Iowa and beyond our borders to indicate those numbers could be substantially larger. Consider the following:

• South Korea's strong economic position. While the pace of growth for South Korea's gross domestic product has slowed from last year's sizzling pace,
  its economy continues to grow at a healthy clip.
  
• There are ongoing talks between a consortium of 12 Korean biotech companies and Iowa State University to establish a research and development facility at the ISU Research Park in Ames.
  
• Other states' trade figures. Indiana, a state similar in size and output to Iowa, exported more than $224 million in goods to South Korea in 2002. For Kansas, the figure was $293 million. South Korea was Nebraska's fourth-largest market in 2002, with $178.5 million in sales.

South Korea already offers an attractive and growing market for Iowa's agricultural output. It's time for the state's manufacturers to seek out similar opportunities for themselves. In the 1990s, then-Gov. Terry Branstad
persuaded PMX, a Korean brass-maker, to build a facility in Cedar Rapids. PMX has thrived since, demonstrating the mutual benefits that can be achieved from such international cooperation. We need to do more.

One step would be to encourage Iowa's congressional delegation to support a proposed U.S.-Korea free trade agreement. Such an agreement, some estimate,
would increase annual U.S. exports to South Korea by 54 percent, or $19 billion. It would grow U.S. imports from Korea by 21 percent, or $10 billion. Another productive step would be to encourage Iowa officials to expand the
state's official ties with South Korea.

Finally, Iowa business owners should consider all the possibilities that could result for themselves, their employees and the state if they were to expand
their markets into South Korea. That's especially important for the hundreds of smaller manufacturers across Iowa whose firms produce quality goods and yet may not think of themselves as being ready or able to enter the international marketplace.

Opportunities abound. There's no time better than the present to make the most of them.

Myong Hun Kim is a partner in New York City-based KIN Consulting Group, which specializes in business consulting for small to mid-size companies that want to enter the South Korean market. Eric Woolson is president of The Concept Works, a government and public relations firm located in West Des Moines.