Cha-am, Thailand  - Trade between the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and South Korea increased 23.4 per cent in 2008, even before a free trade agreement goes into effect next year, ASEAN leaders said Saturday.

An ASEAN summit in Cha-am, 130 kilometres south-west of Bangkok, reconfirmed that an ASEAN-South Korean free trade agreement would be implemented January 1.

A final statement issued at the end of the ASEAN summit Saturday noted the already impressive growth in trade between South-East Asia and South Korea.

"In 2008, ASEAN-Korea trade grew by 23.4 per cent compared with 9.5 per cent in 2007," the statement said. "ASEAN is now the third-largest trading partner of Korea and Korea is ASEAN's fifth-largest trading partner."

Although the summit among the 10 ASEAN leaders has wound up, bilateral summits between the group and its major regional trading partners - Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea - are to be held at the Cha-am beach resort until Sunday.

ASEAN has signed partial free trade agreements with all six partners.

An ASEAN Free Trade Area, which is to slash import tariffs on regional trade to zero to 5 per cent in ASEAN's six most developed economies, is to go into full effect on January 1.

"We are pleased to note that the realization of the ASEAN-Free Trade Area on January 1, 2010, is well on track," the ASEAN statement said.

The free trade area is to cover 99.65 per cent of all tariff lines in the six original ASEAN countries - Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

Newer members Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam are to be included in 2015. (dpa)