U.S. seen to turn positive about KORUS FTA: trade official

SEOUL, April 13 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's top trade official said Monday that the
Barack Obama administration seems to be increasingly positive about a free trade
accord with South Korea.

In a parliamentary interpellation session, South Korean Trade Minister Kim
Jong-hoon said both countries will start discussions next month on the
ratification of the free trade accord signed in June 2007.
"The U.S. has expressed dissatisfaction with the trade deal... but it did not
mention renegotiation," Kim said adding that his ministry and the US Trade
Representative (USTR) would start to work on it ahead of a planned summit in
June.
The trade accord, officially named KORUS FTA, is awaiting congressional approval
from both countries amid growing protectionism in the Democrat-controlled
Congress, which fears its ratification will undermine support from U.S. trade
unions, their political base, due to possible job cuts in the worst recession in
decades.
Obama also has opposed ratification of what he called a "badly flawed" free trade
agreement with South Korea due to the auto trade, although South Korea disputes
the U.S. figures, which include hundreds of thousands of autos produced by
Hyundai Motor's plant in Alabama.
But the U.S. trade journal "Inside U.S. Trade" reported on Friday that Assistant
U.S. Trade Representative Danny Sepulveda had told business representatives that
it is the intent of USTR to address outstanding issues on the pending free trade
agreements with Panama, Colombia and South Korea without renegotiating their
texts.
"I think it the remarks are very positive," Kim said.
It is the first time that the U.S. trade office has expressed its position there
is no need to reopen the texts of the KORUS FTA.
Last month, the nominee for U.S. trade representative said the KORUS FTA is not
acceptable as it stands.
South Korea has strongly ruled out revisiting the pact, which cleared a
parliamentary subcommittee in February despite strong opposition from opposition
parties.
If ratified, the FTA, touted as the biggest ever for South Korea, will knock down
tariff and non-tariff barriers between the two economies, whose two-way trade
reached US$78.4 billion in 2007.
sam@yna.co.kr
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