Colombia expects to finish a free trade pact with South Korea before the end of June and then focus on a deal with Japan as the Andean nation tries to break into Asian markets, its trade minister said.

The Andean nation was shaken in 2009 after key trade partner Venezuela drastically reduced commerce. Coupled with high dependence on the United States, with whom a free trade deal is stalled, it has forced the world's No. 5 coal exporter to seek to diversify its market partners, analyst say.

"The treaty is fundamental for the entry of Colombia into Asia, to open up more markets, it'll help us as the first exercise to open (trade) with other countries," Trade, Industry and Tourism Minister Sergio Diaz Granados said.

"We've expressed to the Korean negotiating team our interest to finish the pact this year and we could start the formal paperwork in our Congress, hopefully this year too because we want to transfer part of the time and dedication of the negotiation team to Japan," he told journalists.

Last year, Colombian exports to South Korea soared 248 percent versus 2009 due to fuels, mineral oils, steel and iron while imports grew 38 percent mainly thanks to automobiles and vehicle parts, the government's statistics agency says.

Korea, which accounts for only 5 percent of total Colombian exports, also imported 1.5 million tonnes of Colombian coal at an average price of $95.76 per tonne in 2010 while Japan bought its first Colombian coal in three years.

Granados said that Latin America's No. 4 oil producer also expected to start negotiations for free trade pacts with Turkey and finish another with Panama.

The minister, however, said that Bogota was not thinking about a free trade agreement with China, which has expressed interest in investing in infrastructure projects and has consumed more Colombian coal recently.

"That's something that could happen some time, but there's not interest in that in the short term ... our focus is on Korea and Japan," he said. (Reuters)