South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said Wednesday that his government will speed up its free trade agreement (FTA) talks with the United States.

"There may be a lot of difficulties ahead in the FTA negotiations with the U.S. But I'm strongly determined to speed up the process," Roh said at a symposium marking the fourth anniversary of the Roh government here.

"The South Korean people could be very embarrassed or feel slighted if Japan or China complete FTA deals with the U.S. ahead of South Korea. Competition for FTA deals is a worldwide trend," he said.

South Korea and the United States have held six rounds of FTA talks since June last year but failed to reach a final pact. The two nations had originally planned to wrap up the negotiations by the end of this year so that each side's legislature can ratify the deal before June 30, when U.S. President George W. Bush's " fast-track" trade authority expires.

During the symposium, Roh said he is optimistic over his government's efforts to take back wartime operational control of South Korean troops from the U.S. between 2009 and 2012.

"The planned takeover of wartime operational control has been a very controversial issue, but it will be concluded smoothly," he said.

Roh also said that he will focus on a package of future policy tasks, such as government innovation, balanced regional development, social depolarization and overcoming the challenges of an aging society, during the last year of his presidential tenure.

Source: Xinhua