By Kim Hyun-cheol
Staff Reporter

South Korea and the United States will mark the first anniversary of signing their free trade agreement (FTA) today but there is a long way to go before its effectuation.

The hope of parliamentary passage still remains as President Lee Myung-bak will meet with U.S. President George W. Bush in mid-April in the United States. But they will have to get over two major hurdles before the FTA is approved by their respective legislatures: politics and beef.

With the U.S. administration not having submitted the bill to Congress yet, the whole process could lead to a new impasse if the Democratic Party, which has traditionally been siding with protectionism and anti-FTA movements, comes into power in the coming presidential election.

To ratify the agreement within this year, Congress will have to process it by August 1, when the Congress goes into recess. This requires the proposal to be submitted by early June, which doesn't seem to be an easy task amid strong opposition from the Democratic Party.

The two hard-battling presidential candidates, Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, are not friendly to the FTA, either. Both of them have expressed concern. Obama clarified his stance against the trade pact in his February statement on Lee's inauguration.

``The U.S.-Korea economic relationship has also benefited both nations and deepened our ties. I look forward as well to supporting ways to increase our bilateral trade and investment ties through agreements paying proper attention to our key industries and agricultural sectors, such as autos, rice, and beef, and to protection of labor and environmental standards,'' the statement said. ``Regrettably, the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement does not meet this standard.''

Clinton also ``has serious concerns about how the agreement would impact the United States and is particularly worried about how the auto industry would be affected,'' her spokesperson Phil Singer told ABC News last April.

Specifically, the United States has constantly been requesting South Korea to ensure free access to the Korean beef market. Last May, the World Organization for Animal Health formally classified the United States as a controlled risk country for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), more commonly known as ``mad cow disease.'' This status confirms the country's BSE regulatory controls are efficient and its beef and beef products can be safely traded.

The South Korean government expects a huge breakthrough during the Lee-Bush summit, since both presidents are willing to put forward measures to accelerate the FTA.

Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon recently said the political stance of the next U.S. president will not critically affect the ratification.

``For example, negotiations for the North American Free Trade Agreement were done during the George H.W. Bush administration, but the pact was ratified in the next Clinton government,'' Kim said in an interview with Chosun Ilbo.

hckim@koreatimes.co.kr