South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama agreed Tuesday to make joint efforts to complete work on their countries' pending free trade agreement (FTA) before a G-20 summit in Seoul next week, Lee's office Cheong Wa Dae said.
In their telephone talks, the leaders agreed that the FTA "should be forged to promote free trade in the world and upgrade the South Korea-U.S. alliance by a notch," Cheong Wa
Dae spokeswoman Kim Hee-jung told reporters.
They agreed to try to reach a compromise before the Seoul G -20 summit from Nov. 11-12, which Obama will attend, she added.
The agreement is yet another affirmation of the commitments by the two sides to move forward the stalled process.
Seoul and Washington signed the FTA in 2007, but it remains unratified by their legislature. Some U.S. lawmakers are calling for measures to reduce auto trade imbalances and have South
Korea open its beef market wider to U.S. imports.
Consultations are ongoing between trade officials of the two countries to address all outstanding issues so that the Obama
administration can send the trade pact to the Congress for approval.
On the upcoming G-20 session, meanwhile Seoul shares down 0.08 pct in late-morning trade.