S. Korean legislators to visit Washington over FTA, better ties

SEOUL, Nov. 5 (Yonhap) -- A group of South Korean legislators will visit the United States later this month to bolster smooth transition of bilateral ties between the two sides following the U.S. presidential election, officials said Wednesday.

The parliamentary delegation led by ruling party lawmaker Park Jin will fly to
Washington on Nov. 17 to meet with aides of the next U.S. president to discuss
pending issues including a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries.
The agreement, struck between former Korean president Roh Moo-hyun and his
counterpart George W. Bush after year-long negotiations, has been pending with
the legislatures of both countries for over a year.
Seoul's eight-month-old Lee Myung-bak government has been seeking parliamentary
approval of the much-delayed trade pact, particularly since a controversial
decision to resume U.S. beef imports earlier this year for which it was widely
criticized. The government submitted the motion to the National Assembly last
month in the second of such attempts.
"We are seeking to meet with several Democrat officials including vice
presidential candidate Joseph Biden and former ambassador to Korea Donald Gregg
as well as Republican legislators to convince them of the urgency of the
Korea-U.S. FTA," a ruling party official said. "We also plan to discuss ways of
improving relationship between the two countries under the new administration."
South Korea's ruling Grand National Party hopes to settle the FTA motion in the
parliamentary foreign affairs committee on Nov. 17, the departure date, but
opposition parties remain skeptical toward early ratification of the bill, citing
uncertainties in the U.S. Congress.
Experts say chances for the trade bill's approval by the U.S. Congress may become
slimmer, as outgoing U.S. President Bush has been unsuccessful in his efforts
over the past year to convince the Democratic-controlled Congress to pass the
agreement.
During the course of his campaign, next U.S. President Barack Obama has
repeatedly expressed his opposition to the pending trade deal with Korea, citing
an imbalance in auto trade between the two nations.
The Seoul-Washington free trade pact has been billed as the most significant
event in bilateral relations since the military accord of 1953 following the end
of the Korean War. Economically, the deal is expected to boost two-way trade,
already worth an annual US$79 billion, by as much as $20 billion in the coming
years.
The approval of the Korea-U.S. FTA will likely give a boost to the economic
initiatives of Seoul's conservative government, which are currently being pounded
by growing uncertainties in the financial market.
The ruling party controls an absolute majority of 172 seats in the 299-member
unicameral house, while the main opposition and minority parties hold the rest.
hayney@yna.co.kr
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