SEOUL (Reuters) –South Korea’s finance minister said on Sunday the government was already
working on downsizing its trade
surplus with the United States, a
reference to U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments Thursday
that Washington will renegotiate
or scrap the free trade pact the two
countries have.
Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho added in televised comments he did
not expect the free trade agreement will be terminated. It has
been in effect since 2012.
"If one party requests for the
trade deal to be terminated, it can
be ended six months following
the request. But we don’t feel that
will happen yet,” said Yoo. "We
feel that there will be talks in any
form to renegotiate the terms and
we are preparing for them.”
Yoo reiterated his previous comments that Seoul has not yet received formal requests for talks
to renegotiate the free trade deal
from Washington yet.