Trade has been one of the most important strategies for economic growth in Korea. It is well known that the Korean economy developed very quickly via its export-oriented growth strategy since the early 1960s. Mainly due to the explosive increase of exports to the world, Korea's total GDP has increased by more than three hundred times over the last forty years. Korea's active engagement of the global trade regime was accelerated by its membership in GATT in 1967 and in the WTO in 1994. Recognizing the importance of trade with outside economies in its economic development process, Korea implemented a unilateral open-market policy in early 1980s, and made subsequent efforts to join the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1996. (The rest is omitted.)