Korea Herald, Seoul
Korea, U.S. likely to hold talks over FTA next month
27 September 2010
South Korea and the United States are expected to hold minister-level talks next month to discuss sticky issues such as auto trade in their bilateral trade deal, sources said Monday.
The free trade agreement signed in 2007 after nearly two years of negotiations is yet to be ratified by the legislatures of both countries.
According to Seoul's trade ministry, Choi Seok-young, deputy minister for trade, met Wendy Cutler, assistant U.S. trade representative for Japan, Korea and APEC Affairs, in Tokyo last week to discuss how and when trade ministers from both sides will meet.
"The U.S. sides did not make any concrete proposals (for discussions) ... Both sides will make further contacts to decide the timing for the minister-level talks," an official at the ministry was quoted as saying by Yonhap News.
Given a signing of a free trade pact between South Korea and the European Union in early October, trade ministers from Seoul and Washington may meet around mid-October, he said.
