<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><i class="">Two articles below...</i></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt;" class=""><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/s-korea-says-no-to-us-request-to-discuss-renegotiating-fta/2017/08/22/a46af1d0-8722-11e7-96a7-d178cf3524eb_story.html?utm_term=.d046171f7070" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class="">https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/s-korea-says-no-to-us-request-to-discuss-renegotiating-fta/2017/08/22/a46af1d0-8722-11e7-96a7-d178cf3524eb_story.html?utm_term=.d046171f7070</a><o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 9pt; font-size: 11pt;"><b class=""><span style="font-size: 39pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(42, 42, 42);" class="">S. Korea says no to US request to discuss renegotiating FTA<o:p class=""></o:p></span></b></p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 13.2pt;" class=""><a name="8650483f529d1039a56d6380822f013d68809296" class=""></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: FranklinITCProBold, serif; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);" class="">By Youkyung Lee | AP</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);" class=""> </span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: FranklinITCProLight, serif; color: rgb(170, 170, 170);" class="">August 22 at 6:56 AM</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 13.5pt; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 21.6pt;"><span style="font-size: 15pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);" class="">SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s top trade negotiator said Tuesday that Seoul will not discuss renegotiation of the free trade agreement with the U.S. without first looking into what is really causing the U.S. trade imbalance.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 13.5pt; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 21.6pt;"><span style="font-size: 15pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);" class="">Trade Minister Kim Hyung-chong said Seoul proposed a joint study with Washington to evaluate the impact of the 5-year-old bilateral trade deal and the cause of the U.S. trade deficit.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 13.5pt; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 21.6pt;"><span style="font-size: 15pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);" class="">“We did not agree to the unilateral proposal from the U.S. to amend the Korea-U.S. FTA,” Kim told reporters in a briefing after a talk with U.S. trade representatives. “We made our position clear that investigation, analysis and evaluation of the impact of the Korea-U.S. FTA must be preceded.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 13.5pt; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 21.6pt;"><span style="font-size: 15pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);" class="">The two sides found they had different views on the impact of the free trade deal and could not reach any agreement during the talks, he added. Kim said Seoul will be waiting for Washington’s response to its proposal for the joint study.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 13.5pt; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 21.6pt;"><span style="font-size: 15pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);" class="">The countries’ trade officials held their first talks in Seoul, in what Washington hoped would lead to discussing amendment or modification of the trade deal that took effect five years ago under President Barack Obama.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 13.5pt; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 21.6pt;"><span style="font-size: 15pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);" class="">The Trump administration criticized the pact with its ally, saying that the U.S. trade deficit with South Korea had nearly doubled since the deal went into effect. The U.S. trade deficit with South Korea widened from $13.2 billion in 2011 to $27.6 billion last year.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 13.5pt; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 21.6pt;"><span style="font-size: 15pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);" class="">But South Korea said the deal has been beneficial to both countries. The U.S. runs a trade surplus with South Korea in services such as banking and tourism, estimated at $10.7 billion in 2016. South Korea also believes that the FTA is not the cause of the U.S. trade imbalance, and that other, complex factors in the global economy are to blame.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 13.5pt; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 21.6pt;"><span style="font-size: 15pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);" class="">The Trump administration is seeking to renegotiate the trade deal with South Korea as part of its broader efforts to reduce the U.S. trade deficit. It has begun an effort to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 13.5pt; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 21.6pt;"><span style="font-size: 15pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);" class="">South Korea is the sixth-largest trading partner for the U.S., while the U.S. is South Korea’s second-largest trading partner.</span></p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2017/08/22/business/22reuters-southkorea-usa-trade.html" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class="">https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2017/08/22/business/22reuters-southkorea-usa-trade.html</a><o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><h1 style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 24pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;" class=""><i class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class="">South Korea, U.S. at Odds Over Next Steps on Free Trade Deal Revisions<o:p class=""></o:p></span></i></h1><p class="byline-dateline" style="margin-right: 33.75pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 1rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; line-height: 12.75pt;"><span class="byline"><b class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class="">By </span></b></span><span class="byline-author"><b class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class="">REUTERS<o:p class=""></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class="byline-dateline" style="margin-right: 33.75pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 2.25pt; line-height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class="">AUG. 22, 2017, 1:33 P.M. E.D.T.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="story-body-text" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 56.25pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 12pt; background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">SEOUL — South Korean and U.S. officials failed to agree on Tuesday on how to move forward on discussions over their five-year-old free trade agreement that Washington is seeking to change to help cut its trade deficit with Asia's fourth-largest economy.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="story-body-text" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 56.25pt; font-size: 1.0625rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 12pt; background-color: white; line-height: 1.625rem; max-width: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">A one-day video-conference between U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, South Korean Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong and the trade pact's joint steering committee ended without a decision on the next steps for possible revisions.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="story-body-text" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 56.25pt; font-size: 1.0625rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 12pt; background-color: white; line-height: 1.625rem; max-width: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">"We have found the two sides have different views on the free trade agreement and have not reached any agreement," Kim told a news conference after the meeting.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="story-body-text" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 56.25pt; font-size: 1.0625rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 12pt; background-color: white; line-height: 1.625rem; max-width: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">A USTR spokeswoman said proposals were exchanged and conversations on the topic will continue.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="story-body-text" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 56.25pt; font-size: 1.0625rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 12pt; background-color: white; line-height: 1.625rem; max-width: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">U.S. President Donald Trump told Reuters in April that the agreement known as KORUS was a "horrible deal" and pledged to renegotiate or terminate the accord.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="story-body-text" id="story-continues-1" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 56.25pt; font-size: 1.0625rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 12pt; background-color: white; line-height: 1.625rem; max-width: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">In a statement issued in Washington, Lighthizer said that since KORUS went into effect in 2012, the U.S. trade deficit with South Korea has more than doubled to $27.6 billion last year, and that Seoul's non-tariff barriers to U.S. goods were a problem.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="story-body-text" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 56.25pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 12pt; background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">"Unfortunately, too many American workers have not benefited from the agreement," Lighthizer said. "USTR has long pressed the Korean government to address burdensome regulations which often exclude U.S. firms or artificially set prices for American intellectual property. This negotiation offers us an opportunity to resolve these and other barriers."<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="story-body-text" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 56.25pt; font-size: 1.0625rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 12pt; background-color: white; line-height: 1.625rem; max-width: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">Kim said Seoul had stressed that the U.S. trade deficit with South Korea was not the result of the bilateral trade deal and proposed a joint study to examine the effects of the agreement.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="story-body-text" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 56.25pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 12pt; background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">The trade minister said the U.S. side had not brought up the possibility of terminating the trade pact during the talks, adding that South Korea would wait for the U.S. review of Tuesday's discussions and its proposals.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="story-body-text" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 56.25pt; font-size: 1.0625rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 12pt; background-color: white; line-height: 1.625rem; max-width: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">The United States has been keen to address trade imbalances with South Korea, particularly for U.S.-produced vehicles, since President Trump has emphasized the imbalance in auto trade.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="story-body-text" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 56.25pt; font-size: 1.0625rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 12pt; background-color: white; line-height: 1.625rem; max-width: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">In 2016, South Korea's car exports to the United States stood at $16.2 billion, while its imports of U.S. cars were $1.74 billion, a trade ministry official said based on data from the Korea Trade International Association.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="story-body-text" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 56.25pt; font-size: 1.0625rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 12pt; background-color: white; line-height: 1.625rem; max-width: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">Seoul maintains that the deal has been mutually beneficial, with exports of American beef to South Korea rising, saying last month that it would not necessarily renegotiate terms.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="story-body-text" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 56.25pt; font-size: 1.0625rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 12pt; background-color: white; line-height: 1.625rem; max-width: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">(Additional reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Phil Berlowitz)</span></p></body></html>