SEOUL, March 29: Hopes grew on Thursday that a deal on a free trade agreement between South Korea and the United States could be reached by a weekend deadline. Disputes over farm trade are still the biggest obstacle to an agreement which, according to some studies, could increase two-way trade by 20 per cent over last year's $74 billion figure.
But South Korean analysts and officials are confident that talks can be concluded this week.
“The two countries are showing a strong will to strike a deal. So I believe the deal will be done,” Lee Kyung-Tae, head of the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, a state think-tank, said.
A trade official told AFP on condition of anonymity: “There are growing hopes of a deal, although I cannot say definitely it will be concluded by the deadline.” Yonhap news agency said an announcement may come
early Saturday. The deadline for agreement is 7am Saturday Korean time, the last working day of the week in Washington.
The deal must be submitted to Congress next Monday for a 90-day review if it is to be passed while US President George W. Bush still has authority to “fast-track” trade legislation.
“I think both sides can narrow differences and find common ground,” South Korea's Assistant Agriculture Minister Min Dong-Seok told reporters late Wednesday.
“Both sides clearly share a view that a deal should be reached in time,” he said after a separate meeting with his US agricultural negotiating partner Richard Crowder.
Min has said talks with Crowder were to wind up on Thursday morning, with the results forwarded to the delegation chiefs -- South Korean Trade Minister Kim Hyun-Chong and Deputy US Trade Representative Karan Bhatia.
Yonhap said an outline “package deal” was expected to be completed by Thursday, on the basis of which Kim and Bhatia would attempt a “give-and-take” session linking fewer than 10 outstanding issues.
President Roh Moo-Hyun, who has pushed hard for a deal despite mass street protests and opposition from political allies, hinted there would be a compromise.
A deal “is supposed to be mutually satisfactory. Otherwise, the deal can't be concluded,” he said on Wednesday evening during a visit to Qatar.
Roh said he will decide whether to sign the deal after he returns home Friday. “As head of state, I myself will make the final decision.” South Korea rose from post-war poverty to become the world's 11th largest economy by protecting key industries, but now faces growing Chinese competition.—AFP