Seoul admits to renegotiation of FTA with US

Korea’s top negotiator for the free trade agreement with the U.S. acknowledged Thursday that both sides are renegotiating the accord.

Deputy Trade Minister Choi Seok-young told a news briefing Thursday, “To deal with issues the U.S. presented on the deal, talks are not enough,” adding, “But if you ask whether we need outright renegotiation, I want to reject the notion but a limited renegotiation is unavoidable.”

This is the first time for Seoul to officially admit that additional negotiations on contentious issues of the trade pact are renegotiations.

Stressing that Korea will pay the most attention to assuring the balance of interests in the renegotiations, Choi said, “On cars, there are areas we can achieve a balance of interests and we can also do it in other areas.”

hyejin@donga.com