South Korean Trade Minister Kim Hyun chong is taking a page from Justin Trudeau citing the Canadian prime minister's international trade mantra that no deal is better than a bad deal when negotiating revisions to the country's free trade agreement with the U S In the KORUS FTA negotiations both countries must reach a win win result There will be no unilateral yielding Kim said Jan 8 at a briefing in Seoul after Director General for FTA Negotiations Yoo Myung hee led talks with U S Assistant Trade Representative Michael Beeman in Washington on Jan 5 for the first round of talks to revise their bilateral trade deal While Canada is stalled in talks with the U S and Mexico on the North American Free Trade Agreement NAFTA South Korea and the U S have only laid out their differences ahead of negotiating amendments and modifications to the Korea U S free trade agreement KORUS which entered into force in 2012 The two sides are expected to meet at least monthly with the second round of talks slated for the end of January or early February Kim added that South Korea would not tolerate a negotiation that disturbs our technology development and ties the hands and feet of our future generations He also pointed to the U S s upcoming announcement on safeguard measures against South Korean washing machines vowing that if the U S violates international regulations
