South Korea-FTA with United States.

SOUTH KOREA-FTA NOT IF BUT WHEN.

A free trade deal between South Korea and the United States could be finalised sooner than expected as President Barack Obama is showing flexibility, a leading advocate for the pact said Monday.

Obama had opposed the so-called KORUS free-trade deal as a senator, saying it was flawed by not providing more market access for US cars in Asia ’s fourth largest economy.

In a meeting with South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak last week on the sidelines of a Group of 20 economic summit in London , Obama acknowledged "difficulties" by both sides moving ahead.

"But he said he does want to make progress and our staffs should discuss how to move forward," a senior Obama administration official said at the time.

"That’s a significant shift," said Charles Pritchard, president of the Korea Economic Institute which advocates closer relations between the countries.

His remarks "indicate there is a good deal of flexibility involved in actually governing rather than campaigning," Pritchard, a former negotiator with communist North Korea , told a forum at the Johns Hopkins University .

"I am pleased that it sounds as though the conventional wisdom of late -- that the KORUS FTA didn’t have a prayer until late 2010 -- may be revised. It may be much sooner than that and that’s all very good."

US Trade Representative Ron Kirk had also told his Senate confirmation hearing that the deal as negotiated by George W. Bush’s administration "just simply isn’t fair."

South Korea has ruled out renegotiating the pact, which was signed in 2007 and cleared a parliament subcommittee in February.

South Korean leaders argue that the deal will serve as a boon for exporters in the country, which is flanked by economic powerhouses Japan and China and has been hit particularly hard by the global slowdown.

But the deal also sparked sometimes violent protests in Seoul due to concern about the safety of US beef headed to the South Korean market.

The trade pact and tensions with North Korea are expected to top the agenda when Lee visits Obama at the White House on June 16.

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