Free trade negotiations between South Korea and the U.S. may continue beyond the pre-set target of the year's end, the top U.S. negotiator said Monday.
The remarks by Wendy Cutler come amid reports that talks on a proposed free trade agreement between the two countries were undergoing difficulty with no clear sign of a breakthrough in the works.
The two countries had previously agreed to wrap up the negotiations by the year's end to give enough time for their legislatures to ratify the deal.
"We are still trying to conclude talks by the end of this year or early next year, but we won't hurry," Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Wendy Cutler told reporters after ending the first day of scheduled five-day talks.
"FTA talks by their nature are very complex, particularly when talking about two large, sophisticated economies," she said. "We are both seeking an agreement that addresses national endurance." Earlier, South Korea's deputy chief negotiator Lee Hae-min said the sides were holding "difficult" negotiations. Another South Korean official said the atmosphere of the talks was "somber."
Nonetheless, Cutler said she wants to make sufficient progress at this round of talks, the fourth since June, that opened on South Korea's southern resort island of Jeju on Monday.
"We come to Jeju island with the objective of making as much progress as possible," she said.
Both sides have time and again stressed the importance of wrapping up the negotiations by the year's end, giving the impression that the timeframe is a virtual deadline.
Before starting talks in Jeju, South Korean officials expressed concern that the U.S. may not be ready to make concessions on rice and other sensitive items on their list.
At the third round of talks in Seattle in July, the U.S. came up with a long list of complaints over South Korea's restrictive agricultural, pharmaceutical and automobile markets.
South Korea also presented its own list of complaints, including Washington's unwillingness to open its textile market and its refusal to restrict its anti-dumping law to penalize electronic and other high-tech South Korean imports.
Outside the conference room, thousands of riot police virtually cordoned off the area. About 60 activists managed to stage a rally near the meeting site but were quickly dispersed. Two were arrested.
"We, four million farming people, again demand that the government halt the FTA talks that have been pushed without a national consensus," Seo Jeong-hee, head of the Korea Advanced Farmers Federation, said at a protest rally.
Some activists staged seaborne protests aboard five small boats off the beach-side hotel. A large maritime police boat blocked them.
If a deal is signed with South Korea, it would be the biggest trade accord for the U.S. since it launched the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada in 1994.
South Korea is Washington's seventh largest trading partner.
For South Korea, the U.S. is its 2nd largest export market after China. Tow-way trade reached US$72 billion in 2005.
Seogwipo, South Korea, Oct. 23 (Yonhap)
U.S. won't hurry to conclude free trade talks with S. Korea: Cutler |
