Korea, US trade ministers to seek progress on FTA
Korea Herald | 8 May 2009
Korea, U.S. trade ministers to seek progress on FTA
Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon and his U.S. counterpart, Ron Kirk will meet in Washington, D.C. next week to discuss trade issues and seek a way forward in the stalled bilateral free-trade agreement, Korea’s chief FTA negotiator said yesterday.
"This will be Minister Kim’s first official meeting with the U.S. trade representative, since he took office, which is a formality, and the meeting would also allow both sides to engage in each others’ trade issues," Lee Hye-min told reporters at the Trade Ministry in Seoul.
The meeting, scheduled from May 12 to 15 in Washington D.C., comes after President Lee Myung-bak and U.S. President Barack Obama agreed to make progress in the bilateral FTA deal during the G20 Summit last month in London.
Korea’s National Assembly foreign affairs and trade committee has approved the FTA with Washington, as the preliminary step before possible ratification by the plenary parliamentary session in June.
Both sides still have to reach common ground on what Washington sees as an imbalance in auto trade, as well as compromise on Korea’s ban of U.S. beef from cattle older than 30 months old.
"The upcoming formal meeting would be the first time for both ministers to share their views on the FTA deal, and they are expected to seek ways to make progress by discussing the steps for ratification," Lee told reporters at Seoul’s Trade Ministry.
Kirk has said that he aims to seek "new solutions" to the pending FTA with Korea before bringing it to Congress for ratification. Whether this would call for renegotiations or additional negotiations, the Korean government has repeatedly stressed that it will not change the balance of the deal sealed in June 2007.
Korean Ambassador to the United States, Han Duck-soo, reaffirmed on Wednesday that Seoul will not renegotiate the pending free trade agreement.
"We have no intention of reopening already-concluded agreements," Han told reporters at the American capitol after meeting with U.S. congressmen there.
He, however, noted that Seoul intends to discuss the "real contents of the complaints" that are impeding the ratification process.
U.S. officials and experts have talked about "creative ways" of avoiding renegotiations by holding side agreements on the sensitive auto and beef issues.
The landmark trade bill is Washington’s largest since the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement and the biggest ever for Korea.
By Yoo Soh-jung
