U.S. to address auto, beef without reopening agreement itself: deputy USTR By Hwang Doo-hyong

WASHINGTON, May 8 (Yonhap) -- Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis said recently that he will try to address U.S. concerns over beef and auto trade with South Korea without revising the free trade agreement awaiting ratification.

"It is USTR's first preference to address those concerns outside the texts of the
agreement but (we) will explore all options in close consultation with you and
members of the committee," Marantis said in a written statement to Senate Finance
Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Montana) on April 30, ahead of his confirmation
hearing.
South Korean Ambassador Han Duck-soo said Wednesday his government has "no
intention of reopening already-concluded agreements," although he said that Seoul
will address the stumbling blocks to ratification.
South Korea's chief trade negotiator, Kim Jong-hoon, will fly into Washington
next week for negotiations with his counterpart, U.S. Trade Representative Ron
Kirk, to address U.S. concerns toward congressional approval of the trade deal,
signed in 2007.
South Korea's National Assembly foreign affairs and trade committee has approved
the pact, signaling possible ratification by the plenary parliamentary session in
June.
U.S. President Barack Obama has yet to send the Korea FTA to Congress for a vote
amid growing protectionist sentiment in the Democrat-controlled Congress
following the worst recession in decades.
At issue are auto sales and restricted shipments of U.S. beef.
Marantis said that he had concerns "particularly with respect to autos, and that
there is a need for further progress on reopening Korea's market to U.S. beef,"
despite the potential for the FTA to provide "significant benefits" to the U.S.
U.S. government statistics show a possible increase of up to US$20 billion in
annual trade with South Korea, the seventh biggest trade partner for the U.S, if
the agreement is implemented.
The deputy chief U.S. trade negotiator said that he will "consult closely with
our Korean colleagues to effectively address U.S. concerns, so we can be in a
position to move forward with the agreement as soon as practical."
South Korean officials have said that the upcoming summit on June 16 in
Washington between South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Obama will produce a
breakthrough in the auto and beef issues.
At a summit in London last month, the first of its kind, Lee and Obama "agreed
that the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement could bring benefits to both countries
and committed to working together to chart a way forward."
Kirk recently said that he will seek "new solutions" to the pending FTA with
South Korea, adding that he will "promptly, but effectively" address the
imbalance in auto trade and South Korea's ban on shipments of beef from cattle
older than 30 months, with priority placed on beef.
Obama has taken issue with what he has called lopsided 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.
The American Chamber of Commerce in Korea recently issued statistics to show that
GM Daewoo, General Motor's Korean subsidiary, sold more than 110,000 cars in
Korea last year, 11.7 percent of the Korean market, which is much more than
Hyundai and Kia Motors' market share in the U.S., at about seven percent for the
first several months this year.
hdh@yna.co.kr