S. Korea to exclude rice, beef pacts from FTA talks with US
Thursday February 23, 2006
S. Korea to Exclude Rice, Beef Pacts From Fta Talks With US
SEOUL, Feb 23 Asia Pulse - South Korea’s agriculture minister said Thursday that the country will not include deals on the liberalization of rice and beef imports in the agenda of upcoming free trade talks with the United States.
South Korea and the U.S. are scheduled to begin formal negations on a free trade agreement (FTA) in May.
"Both the rice and beef issues have been settled in multinational and bilateral negotiations, so they should be excluded from the FTA talks," Agriculture Minister Park Hong-soo said on a radio talk show.
An FTA can, in principle, allow new negotiations on the replacement of existing pacts.
"Our position to exclude beef and rice from further liberalization is clear," Park said.
South Korea signed an agreement with nine rice-exporting countries in December 2004 to increase its minimum market access (MMA) to 7.96 per cent of its domestic market in 2014. In exchange, it received a tariff waiver for 10 years. The country’s rice MMA quota stood at 4 per cent in 2004.
On Jan. 13, Seoul agreed to end its ban on U.S. beef that had been in place since late 2003, but said it will only allow lean beef into the country.
"The United States is asking South Korea to consider importing meat attached to bones, like ribs, but our position is that the matter is not up for discussion," the minister said.
Park also said the government is looking into the 20 FTAs that Washington signed in the past so Seoul can exclude rice from products subject to liberalization.
(Yonhap)
