Tokyo ready to reopen FTA talks with Seoul: report
Yonhap 2008/02/08
Tokyo ready to reopen FTA talks with Seoul: report
TOKYO, Feb. 8 (Yonhap) — The Japanese government hopes to reopen free trade negotiations with South Korea that have been stalled for over three years due to differences between the two sides, a Japanese newspaper said Friday.
Japan wants to reopen talks soon after South Korea’s April 9 parliamentary elections, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said.
South Korea’s incoming leader Lee Myung-bak has been pushing for ratification of a free trade agreement with Washington as well as for conclusion of similar deals with China, Japan, Russia and India.
President-elect Lee is especially enthusiastic about an agreement with Japan, putting emphasis on the need to improve ties and economic cooperation with the neighboring country.
Thus, free trade agreement talks with Japan will likely pick up speed under the incoming government which will be launched on Feb. 25, officials here said.
The Korea-Japan free trade negotiations started in December 2003, after the incumbent Roh Moo-hyun government was launched.
The two sides held six rounds of talks up until November 2004, but the negotiations were suspended for over three years as South Korean negotiators deemed Japan’s offer for opening of its agriculture and fisheries sectors to be unacceptable.
The transition committee of President-elect Lee plans to drastically reshuffle the country’s trade negotiation team to step up efforts to reach free trade agreements, and increase the nation’s negotiating capacity by employing professionals in the fields of anti-dumping, legal services, medical services, agriculture and the service industry.
