By Michael Ha
Staff Reporter

There are growing signs that the United States, under the incoming Barak Obama administration, will try to renegotiate portions of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (KORUS FTA), but the Korean government has reiterated its position that further renegotiations would not be possible.

Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon said Wednesday that ``it would be impossible" to renegotiate the bilateral trade pact.

Kim also reportedly said the auto trade figure between the two countries is not as skewed as some U.S. officials believe when one considers domestic sales of GM-Daewoo, which is majority-owned by U.S. automaker General Motors.

According to U.S. Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton, there are some provisions in the pending agreement that failed to secure fair trade conditions between the two economies. She argued the provisions needed to be renegotiated to ensure fair bilateral trade practices in the future.

Clinton offered her comments in a written response submitted to the U.S. Senate prior to her confirmation hearing.

In it, she said incoming U.S. President Obama has been opposing the Korea-U.S. pact, which was negotiated and signed by the George W. Bush administration. She added that Obama hasn't changed his position on the trade issue and continues to oppose the deal in its current form.

She stressed, however, that the scope of her concern was limited to only certain parts of the pending agreement. The dispute over free trade, she also added, would not in any way influence the longstanding Korea-U.S. bilateral alliance.

Clinton argued that some provisions, including those concerning the services sector, could help U.S. companies. But the Bush administration failed to reach a fair trade agreement involving automobile sales, she noted. ``U.S. trade representatives failed to secure fair trade conditions related to automobiles, trucks and other products.''

If U.S. legislators ratify the pending KORUS FTA in its current form, she argued, the United States stands to lose its leverage to counter Korea's non-tariff barriers. She added that if the Korean government also wishes to renegotiate some provisions, the incoming Obama administration would fully cooperate with Seoul to address them. ``We will talk with Korea honestly and fairly,'' she said.

The former presidential nominee has long been a vocal critic of the pending bilateral deal. During her presidential campaign last year, she strongly criticized the agreement, saying that President Bush ``hastily signed the Korea Free Trade Agreement before his fast track authority expired,'' and that, ``the consequence was a deal that will cost America jobs. Korea has a long history of blocking access to its car market, and yet the agreement has weak provisions for prying that market open.''

``At the same time,'' she added, ``the agreement further opens our car market to Korean vehicles.''

There are also signs emerging that the new 111th U.S. Congress could favor taking another look at the pending trade pact.

U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus recently distributed a report to newly elected senators, according to news accounts. The committee could play a critical role in helping ratify the trade agreement, functioning as a sort of gateway for U.S. legislators before granting approval.

The report, titled ``Trade Issues in the 111th Congress,'' observed that the KORUS FTA would be the most meaningful trade deal for the United States since the signing of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), but added that a number of issues could complicate U.S. legislators' efforts to review and approve the measures.

It mentioned, in particular, U.S. concerns over the auto trade and U.S. beef exports.

michaelha@koreatimes.co.kr