South Korea has recognized damages from the country's bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU) for the first time since the trade deal went into effect last year, the government said Thursday.

The decision came at a meeting on Wednesday, in which the National Trade Commission accepted a claim from a local pork processing company that it suffered damages from the growing market share of European pork in the country.

In 2010, market shares of South Korean and European pork were at 84.76 percent and 5.65 percent, respectively. South Korean products, however, shrank to 70.98 percent at the end of last year, shortly after the Korea-EU FTA went into effect in July of 2011, according to the commission. The market share of European pork grew to 12.22 percent over the cited period.

With the recognition of damages from the FTA, the pork company will be subject to various financial and administrative support designed to help boost its sales and exports.

The case marks the first time South Korea recognized damages from the free trade pact with the EU.

The trade commission is already reviewing three other cases, including a claim from a brewery company that its sales of traditional Korean wine dipped significantly amid growing imports of European wine, according to officials at the commission.(Yonhap)