South Korea will sign the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in trade and goods with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) next week with the exception of Thailand, an official said Thursday.

Thailand has chosen to be excluded following inconclusive negotiations on the issue of rice, said South Korea's Deputy Director-General of the Bilateral Trade Bureau Hong Ji-in.

Hong made the remarks here after attending the Senior Economic Officials Meeting-Republic of Korea Consultations, which are in preparations for the 38th ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) Meeting and other related meetings expected to kick off later this month.

"Even without Thailand, the agreement will go on but we hope Thailand will join as soon as possible," Hong was quoted by the Bernama news agency as saying.

ASEAN, with the exception of Thailand, signed the framework for the FTA last December during the inaugural East Asia Summit held in Kuala Lumpur.

Thailand decided to defer signing the agreement after Thai- South Korean trade negotiators failed to reach a compromise on South Korea's refusal to open its rice market to Thailand.

The ASEAN-South Korea FTA is reported to be likely implemented early next year with or without Thailand's participation.

The ASEAN-South Korea FTA will help liberalize the flow of goods and services by 2016 and create a market of some 550 million people with a combined economy of more than 1.4 trillion U.S. dollars, Bernama reported.

The agreement will end tariffs on 97 percent of about 4,000 categories of goods, while the remaining 3 percent consisting of rice, poultry, fish and agricultural products will be retained in "a sensitive list."

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Source: Xinhua