The plan covers statistics, certification and contract standards for services trade and expanded participation in international standard-setting.

It is part of a long-term strategy to lift services within a trade structure long dominated by goods.

If people-linked services such as tourism, education and healthcare recover, opportunities will open in the Korea-China services market.

For Korean content, medical and education businesses—and the Chinese intermediaries who broker them—standard and certification changes are both barrier and opening.

Amid US-China-Europe competition over norms, the strategy's results bear watching.