Rival parties, gov't to discuss S. Korea-U.S. free trade deal

SEOUL, July 8 (Yonhap) -- A consultative body of rival parties and the government plan to meet on Friday to find a compromise over the long-pending parliamentary approval of the free trade deal with the United States, lawmakers said. The FTA deal, first signed in 2007 and supplemented last December, has been awaiting approval from legislatures of both countries. South Korea's efforts to ratify the high-profile trade agreement have repeatedly been dashed amid severe resistance by opposition parties calling for the government to renegotiate the deal that they said allowed too much compromise at the cost of local carmakers and farmers. As part of bids to assuage such contention, lawmakers agreed to launch early Friday the consultative body composed of lawmakers of the ruling and opposition parties and senior government officials concerned with the deal. The Grand National Party (GNP) is seeking to pass the long-pending bill through the National Assembly during an extra session in August as the U.S. is moving to get Congress to approve the pact by early next month. The consultation will be followed by a public hearing at the Assembly to examine the pros and cons of the trade deal that, if ratified, will dramatically lower trade barriers between the two countries. College professors and think-tank researchers as well as members of the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs and trade are scheduled to attend the hearing. "In the consultation session today, I will request opposition parties set discussion agenda and come up with opinions regarding what is needed to ratify the FTA," Nam Kyung-pil, chairman of the committee, told Yonhap News Agency over the phone. "We have no option but to ratify it if the deal is submitted to the U.S. Congress for passage early next month," the GNP lawmaker said.