SKorea's Lee says US trade pact can pass this year

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2008

TOKYO (AFP) — Fresh from a cordial Camp David summit, South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak said Monday he is confident the US Congress will ratify a sweeping free trade agreement this year.

"I'm convinced that US Congressional ratification ...will be realised this year," he told Korean reporters in Tokyo before a summit with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on his way home.

"I heard a number of opponents in the US Senate and House have changed their position in consideration of US national benefits," Lee was quoted by Yonhap news agency as saying.

The two nations reached the deal last June which awaits ratification by the legislatures of both countries.

Buoyed by his party's general election victory this month, Lee hopes to have the FTA ratified soon in...