Ratification of the Free Trade Agreement signed between South Korea and the U.S. is unlikely to take place before November when crucial mid-term polls are due in America, South Korea's Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon said on Friday.
Although the pact was signed as early as in 2007, it is not yet ratified by lawmakers of both the countries.
"I think ratification of the free trade deal by U.S. Congress may be difficult before the mid-term elections in November (in the U.S.)," Kim said at a business meet in Seoul.
He hoped that the U.S. administration too was looking for an early ratification of the deal and was engaged in doing the groundwork for this.
There are a few sticking points like the restrictions imposed on U.S. beef imports and the imbalance in auto trade which could hold up Congressional assent for the agreement before it can be implemented.
Even as South Korea maintains that the U.S. hasn't raised these issues, some American officials sought to address them in side agreements to avoid a complicated revision of the final agreement text.
South Korea currently has free trade agreements with the Association Of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), European Free Trade Association, India, Chile and Singapore.
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