U.S. negotiators have informed their Korean counterparts that the tricky issue of the Korean rice market will be on the agenda in ministerial talks scheduled on Monday in Seoul. “The U.S. chief agriculture negotiator Richard Crowder said the issue of opening the Korean rice market will be included in next week's minister-level talks,” Min Dong-seok, the deputy minister of agricultural trade policy, told reporters.

The U.S. chief negotiator Wendy Cutler previously said rice would have to be dealt with. But this is the first time that U.S. negotiators have directly pinpointed the rice market, which Korea is particularly keen to protect.

Min said Korean negotiators had strong concerns and were saying the U.S. delegation's insistence on opening Korea’s rice market would “derail” the FTA talks. He added the two sides in the latest round narrowed the gap in some areas, but differences over key issues including beef, oranges and pork could not be resolved.

(englishnews@chosun.com )