The concession table of the Korean government in the UR shows that 78 out of 155service sectors were liberalized. These included 31 areas in business services, 15 in financial services, 9 in communication services, 8 in transportation, 5 in construction services, 4 in distribution services and 3 in tourism services.
Table 4-17. Level of liberalization in the Mode 3 after the Uruguay Round
Korea maintained restrictions on the employment of foreign professionals in every service sector. Medical and dental services, film and videotape services, primary and secondary school services, and news broadcasting and sports leisure services were not subject to liberalization.
The overall level of service sector liberalization in Korea after the UR was lower than that of advanced countries such as the U.S. and EU, but higher than other developing countries. After the launch of WTO, Korea has tried to abide by the concession schedule and open the service market more widely. As aresult of this effort, foreign direct investment in the service sector has increased. The government has promoted increased service sector liberalization through multilateral and bilateral negotiations and voluntary liberalization since 2000
Source : SaKong, Il and Koh, Youngsun, 2010. The Korean Economy Six Decades of Growth and Development. Seoul: Korea Development Institute.
