SEOUL - The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has become the second largest trade partner of South Korea four years after a bilateral free trade agreement took effect, the foreign ministry said Tuesday.

Two-way trade volume between the two totalled $106.8 billion as of May this year, second highest only to China, according to the ministry.

Before the agreement that went into effect in June 2007, ASEAN, comprising ten countries, was South Korea's fifth largest trade partner.

South Korea is currently seeking to forge separate bilateral free trade pacts with Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia to further expand trade relations.