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South Korea and the United States will begin talks next week to discuss possible revisions to their bilateral free trade agreement, the U.S. trade representative said Thursday.
The special session will be held in Seoul on Tuesday upon Washington's request and address U.S. concerns about a trade deficit with the Asian ally. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer made the request last month.
"Ambassador Lighthizer and Korean Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong will open the meeting via a video conference, to be followed by additional senior-level discussions between U.S. and Korean officials in Seoul," the USTR's office said in a statement.
The meeting will aim to "consider matters affecting the operation of the KORUS Agreement, including possible amendments and modifications to resolve several problems regarding market access in Korea for U.S. exports and, most importantly, to address the significant trade imbalance," it added.
U.S. President Donald Trump has slammed the trade pact as a "job killing" and "horrible" deal.
But South Korean officials say the deal has benefited both sides since it went into force in 2012. Experts also say that even though the U.S. has a deficit in goods trade, the country has enjoyed surpluses in the services trade under the deal, and U.S. deficits in the goods trade would have been larger had it not been for the pact.
The agreement has widely been considered a symbol of the economic alliance between the two countries. (Yonhap)
