The U.S. has officially requested that rice, the Korean staple, be covered under a proposed free trade agreement but South Korea has just ignored it, a Seoul government official said Tuesday.
South Korean officials have long characterized rice as a potential deal-breaker.
"The U.S. has offered to discuss rice at informal top-level meetings, but we haven't responded to it, because our government's stance is very clear," Bae Jong-ha, the chief South Korean agriculture negotiator, told reporters.
The U.S. move was seen by South Korean officials as part of its get-tough policy to squeeze more concessions. Rice, the main cash crop for Korean farmers, is the most sensitive item of all for Seoul.
Currently, Korean rice is about five times more expensive than U.S. rice on commodities market. Under World Trade Organization-imposed rules in 2004, the country was forced to double its rice import quota to 8 percent of its domestic consumption by 2014.
Bae said rice has not been officially taken up at bilateral free trade talks with the U.S. that began eight months ago. The U.S. insists that there should be no exception in the deal.
In the second day of the current round of free trade talks under way in Seoul, the sixth since last June, officials reported some progress in "less sensitive" areas such as a phase-out of tariffs on industrial goods, competition and intellectual property rights.
"The U.S. stance is a step forward," Lee Hye-min, deputy South Korean delegation chief, said of discussions on industrial goods.
"I can say that the atmosphere of these discussions was good."
Lee was also upbeat about textile trade being handled at a separate high-level channel involving South Korean Deputy Commerce Minister Lee Jae-hoon and Scott Quesenberry, the top textile negotiator from the U.S. Trade Representative.
"I and Mr. Quesenberry have agreed to help reach an agreement in time," Lee told reporters after a meeting with the U.S. official, adding that they will meet again this week. Negotiators agree that the real test will be on three key pending issues -- anti-dumping remedies, automobiles and pharmaceuticals -- that are being tackled at informal talks between their top delegates, Kim Jong-hoon from South Korea and Wendy Cutler from the U.S.
The two top negotiators met twice on Tuesday but there were no reports of a breakthrough, according to South Korean officials.
On Monday, Kim said he was hopeful that the three tricky issues can be resolved through give-and-take.
"We won't make concessions on autos and pharmaceuticals if there is no progress on the issue of anti-dumping remedies," he told reporters.
Cutler also said that a deal still can be reached in time, although some knotty issues remain unsolved.
"Our challenges are real, but they are not insurmountable," Cutler said. "The U.S. is prepared to make progress in all of these three issues at the chief negotiator level."
South Korea is demanding revision of U.S. anti-dumping laws which it believes have often been used unfairly to curb its exports. The U.S. is seeking to protect its pharmaceutical patent rights and revise South Korea's tax system to expand its auto exports.
Time is running short for a deal to be reached before U.S. President George W. Bush's "fast-track" trade promotion authority expires on July 1.
Under Bush's authority, U.S. negotiators have until April 2 to submit a deal for an official 90-day review by Congress for an outright up-or-down vote without amendments.
The deal also requires ratification by South Korea's National Assembly but the tight U.S. time restriction has raised concern that a deal could be clinched in time.
"The U.S. side strongly wants to wrap up talks by the end of February, because they need two to three weeks to prepare for legalization of an agreement for a congressional vote," said a senior South Korean trade official, requesting anonymity.
South Korean officials said the two sides have "tentatively" agreed to hold one more round in February to wrap up the talks.
Outside the conference room, 3,000 farmers and anti-globalization activists marched 4 kilometers, shouting "No to FTA." They dispersed peacefully after a one-hour rally in front of the meeting venue, a posh hotel, in eastern Seoul.
There were no reports of clashes with police. Authorities deployed 15,000 riot police to protect the talks.
Seoul, Jan. 16 (Yonhap News)
S. Korean, U.S. trade officials rush to strike deal |
