S. Korea, U.S. to hold talks on agriculture soon

South Korea and the United States will hold high-level talks on agriculture on March 5-6 to discuss the unresolved issues in their bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations, the Korea Times reported on Thursday.

In a news briefing Wednesday, South Korean Vice Agriculture Minister Park Hae-sang said all outstanding topics related to the FTA with the United States and other issues are to be discussed during the talks.

South Korea and the United States launched their FTA talks last year but have failed to reach a final pact due to some differences between the two sides including the agriculture sector.

The talks, proposed by the U.S. side, are regarded as an effort to pave the way for an early adoption of the FTA as the two sides want to conclude the FTA talks before April.

There are several major sticking points of the upcoming talks, such as South Korea's demand for exceptions of market liberalization and gradual lowing of tariffs, Park said.

Source: Xinhua