Text Fwd: U.S. Ready to Ratify FTA as Korea Lags Behind

* Text fwd by Steve Zeltzer on April 28, 2011
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/04/28/2011042800803.html
U.S. Ready to Ratify FTA as Korea Lags Behind

U.S. Ready to Ratify FTA as Korea Lags BehindU.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke has said the U.S. Congress will begin the process of ratifying the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement bill in May regardless of progress in Seoul. He was speaking at a press conference on arrival here on Wednesday.

The Barack Obama administration will submit the FTA to Congress as soon as possible, and the Korean National Assembly can begin its own ratification process after watching how the U.S. Congress ratifies the bill, he said.

Obama is expected to hold prior consultations with congressional leaders from early May before submitting the bill.

Locke said his administration has completed all the preparations for the submission of the FTA bill to Congress, where it has majority support.

He is in Seoul leading a delegation of four congressmen to build support for ratification and ask the Korean government and parliamentary leaders for help, he added.

Locke also commented on trade conflicts between Seoul and Washington, including the ban on exports to the U.S. of products made in the joint Korean Kaesong Industrial Complex. He pledged there will be no more changes to the FTA after what was billed as "supplementary talks" in December, when the two countries agreed to delay the phase-out of tariffs on Korean cars in return for concessions from Washington on pork and medicine.

In an interview with the Chosun Ilbo on Tuesday, Representative Charles Rangel, one of the delegates and a former chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means which supervises the FTA, said he understands that Korean lawmakers are reluctant to agree to all clauses in the FTA due to difference of interests in each region. But he called on ruling and opposition lawmakers to act in the best interest of their country.