South Korea on Friday renewed its full support for a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States, saying the trade deal will bring the two military allies closer economically.

"The government concluded that an FTA with the U.S. is needed to expand the security-centered bilateral relationship with the U. S. into economic ties," Kim Jong-hoon, South Korea's chief negotiator to the trade talks, told reporters at a news briefing held here earlier Friday.

Kim's press conference came about five hours after the announcement made by the two countries of launching the trade talks for the FTA in Washington.

The announcement was made at a joint news conference hosted by U.S. Trade representative Rob Portman and South Korean Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong in Washington.

"The South Korean government will do its best to secure the FTA negotiations with the U.S. to facilitate a win-win economic ties ( between the two sides)," Kim Jong-hoon said at the press conference.

South Korea, the world's 11th largest economy, is Washington's seventh largest trading partner and its eighth largest farm market while the U.S. is the second largest destination of South Korean products.

Their two-way trade volume totaled 72 billion U.S. dollars in 2004.

However, Kim also admitted that there will be some sticking points during the negotiations and some economic sectors of South Korea will be impacted by the envisioned FTA.

But he said his government is "ready to make tough decisions."

South Korean farmers voiced strong opposition to the FTA with the U.S., fearing cheap American farm produce will take dominance in local market.

Formal negotiations between the Seoul and Washington are expected to begin in May, because the U.S. government is required to have three months of prior consultations with its Congress before starting such talks.

The technical U.S. deadline for concluding the agreement with South Korea is June next year, when the U.S. government's "trade promotion authority," given by Congress, expires.

The envisioned FTA would likely require South Korea and the U.S. to abolish tariffs on about 90 percent of goods traded bilaterally over the next decade.

Last week, South Korea cleared a major obstacle for the launching of the negotiations by slashing a screen quota for South Korean movies at local theaters from 146 days to 73 days a year.

Prior to the decision of cutting the screen quota, the South Korean government in January already agreed to lift a two-year import ban on U.S. beef, which was viewed as another preparations for the opening of the trade talks.

South Korea has signed free trade deals with Chile, Singapore and the European Free Trade Association, comprising Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

Source: Xinhua