SEOUL - South Korea's parliament on Monday ratified its free trade agreement (FTA) with China, taking an important step toward regional economic integration.

The ratification bill on the China-South Korea free trade accord was passed through the National Assembly by a majority of 196 to 33 with 36 abstentions.

China and South Korea signed the bilateral FTA in June after three years of negotiations. Under the deal, the two sides will eliminate tariffs on more than 90 percent of traded goods each within 20 years after implementation.

South Korea expected the free trade accord with China to raise its real GDP by 0.96 percentage points and create about 53,000 new jobs in the next 10 years.

The South Korean government said in a statement that it will make best efforts to implement the deal by minimizing necessary local procedures and closely consulting with the Chinese side.

Seoul anticipated that the FTA with China will help boost its exports, which have been suffering this year from the global economic slowdown. South Korea's export tumbled 15.9 percent in October from a year earlier, logging the biggest monthly reduction in more than six years.

The China-South Korea FTA is also expected to help accelerate regional economic integration.

"The (South) Korea-China FTA is a good starting point that leads to negotiations of the trilateral FTA between South Korea, China and Japan as well as of the RECP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership)," said Kim Young-Gui, research fellow at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP).

Kim said that the FTA will serve as growth engines for both countries, noting that the FTA will create a chance to boost bilateral trade and economic cooperation.