S. Korea, Japan fail to narrow gap over free trade talks

SEOUL, Dec. 22 (Yonhap) -- Trade negotiators from South Korea and Japan failed to
narrow differences over the resumption of stalled free trade negotiations during
their latest preliminary talks, government officials said Tuesday.

Free trade talks between Seoul and Tokyo have been stalled since late 2004 mainly
because of Japan's reluctance to bring down tariffs on agricultural goods.
The two countries started preliminary talks to resume the stalled negotiations in
June 2008, and have since met four times including the latest meeting on Monday.
During the fourth round of working-level talks in Seoul, trade negotiators from
South Korea demanded that their Japanese counterparts make concessions on opening
Tokyo's market to agricultural and fisheries goods.
Japanese negotiators rejected the demand, saying specific conditions should be
discussed when formal negotiations resume, according to South Korean officials.
"Both sides agree that more efforts are needed to achieve the circumstances
necessary to resume South Korea-Japan FTA negotiations," South Korea's Ministry
of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement.
Lee Yun-yeong, director of the ministry's FTA policy bureau, led the South Korean
delegation, while Kimihiro Ishikane, an official with the Asia and Oceania
division of Tokyo's Foreign Ministry, represented Japan, according to the
statement.
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