The Export Competitiveness of Korea, China, and Japan in ASEAN

Export is a main driver for economic growth. Korean economic development has heavily depended on trade expansion. However, recently Korea economy has experienced sluggish exports. To regain economic vitality, Korea has to find out ways to expand exports. For this purpose, Korea needs to keep a careful eye on the ASEAN market because the ASEAN economic potential as a new market has rapidly grown these days. Furthermore, many countries around the world are interested in the ASEAN market and they have aggressively invested to the ASEAN market. In this study, we analyze export competitiveness of Korea, China and Japan in the ASEAN market by using Export Similarity Index (ESI) and Constant Market Share Model (CMS). And then, we suggest couple of policies to strengthen export competitiveness of Korea in the ASEAN market