Free-trade talks between the European Union and South Korea are at risk of not being completed on schedule, European Commission chief negotiator Garcia Bercero said Friday in Seoul, according to DPA. After four days of talks in the fourth round of negotiations between the trade partners, the EU's representatives voiced disappointment with South Korea's defensive position and refusal to make concessions. "As a major export-oriented economy, we would certainly expect Korea to take a bolder approach to these negotiations," Bercero said. If the next round of talks scheduled to begin November 19 in Brussels fail to achieve any breakthrough, it would cause the free- trade negotiations to drag out longer than expected, he said. "This round (in November) is going to be key in order to see whether or not there can be much progress for the conclusion of these negotiations," Bercero said. The current round of negotiations are aimed at eliminating import duties and other trade barriers. "I am particularly disappointed that Korea appears to have taken a very defensive approach to tariff negotiations on the industrial sector," Bercero said, citing in particular non-tariff import barriers in the automotive sector. There has been progress in areas such as intellectual property protection and the services sector, he said. "The negotiations will last longer and be very tough unless we revise our offer," South Korea's top negotiator, Kim Han Soo, was reported as saying. But the EU should also submit a new offer, he added. In the negotiations that began in May, the EU has offered to eliminate all import duties on South Korean goods within the next seven years or allow them to expire. For 80 per cent of the Asian country's products, EU tariffs would be lifted within three years of such a free trade pact going into effect. South Korea has offered to lift tariffs on 68 per cent of EU goods within three years. Brussels, however, expressed disappointment at that proposal. Trade between South Korea and the EU amounted to nearly 79 billion dollars last year, making the EU South Korea's second-largest trading partner after China.
