Foreign minister urges swift approval of FTA with U.S.

SEOUL, March 11 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's foreign minister said Wednesday that a
pending free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States would ultimately serve
both countries' interests and expressed hope for swift legislative approval of
the deal.
"The Korea-U.S. FTA is a good agreement that promotes a balance and harmony in
both countries' interests as it was born through prolonged negotiations," Yu
Myung-hwan said at a lunch meeting with European business leaders in Seoul.
The comment by Seoul's top diplomat comes after the nominee for U.S. Trade
Representative said Monday that the deal is not acceptable as currently drafted,
sparking speculation here that Washington may officially demand a renegotiation.
The accord was signed by Seoul and Washington in June 2007 but still awaits
legislative approval in both countries.
South Korea has strongly ruled out renegotiating the pact, which cleared a
parliamentary subcommittee last month despite strong resistance from opposition
parties.
"I hope that the agreement will enter into effect as soon as possible and I am
confident that will happen," said Yu, noting that the issue has become a subject
of political debate since the U.S. presidential campaign last year.
"We initially hoped that the FTA would be brought to closure prior to the U.S.
elections last year, but as we all know due to the election there were certain
political issues raised in regards to this issue."
Yu reiterated that the agreement will serve not only the best interest for both
nations but for expediting free market trade with other countries.
South Korea is pushing to finalize an FTA with the European Union in the round of
talks slated to be held in Seoul near the end of the month, or otherwise by the
end of the first half of 2009.
Seoul has held seven rounds of negotiations with the EU in a bid to gain greater
footing in the 27-nation economic bloc, South Korea's second-largest trading
partner after China.
"There are a number of pending issues pertaining to automobiles and tariffs. But
it is our sincere and strong hope that we would be able to conclude negotiations
by the first half of this year," said the minister.
On the issue of North Korea, the minister said that South Korea will "respond
firmly" to provocative actions while seeking a peaceful resolution to the North
Korean nuclear issue, despite a lack of progress on how to verify Pyongyang's
past nuclear activity.
"The six-party talks now stand at a critical juncture ... yet we have not seen
progress on the verification issue and completion of the second phase (of the
North's denuclearization) is being pushed back."
The multilateral negotiations aimed at ending Pyongyang's atomic program broke
down in December when North Korea rejected proposed inspections of its nuclear
facilities.
Yu said that North Korea's planned rocket launch -- whether it is a satellite, as
Pyongyang claims, or a ballistic missile as intelligence officials suspect --
"constitutes a breach of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1718 and threatens
peace both in Northeast Asia and internationally."
odissy@yna.co.kr
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