The South Korean trading community prefers Japan as the next country the nation should partner with on a free trade agreement (FTA).

The Institute of International Trade, the research arm of the Korea International Trade Association, said Wednesday that a survey of 762 South Korean trading companies has shown that the largest number, at 35-point-four percent, counted Japan as the next country South Korea should seek to clinch an FTA.

Russia was next at eleven-point-four percent, followed by the Gulf Cooperation Council, the South American trading bloc Mercosur, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Hong Kong and Mexico.

Among multilateral FTAs which South Korea has on the table, slightly more than half of respondents said South Korea should first pursue the South Korea-China-Japan FTA.