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The government and ruling Grand National Party embarked on a serious project to have the Korea-U.S. FTA ratified in the National Assembly this year. The two bodies formed the Korea-U.S. FTA Taskforce on Sunday, with lawmaker Hwang Jin-ha as head, and said they would exert utmost efforts on PR and minimizing losses in sectors expected to be hit hard by the FTA.
GNP lawmakers Lee Dal-gon and Cho Yoon-sun, Vice Culture Minister Shin Jae-min and Vice Agriculture Minister Chung Hak-soo were chosen as vice chairpersons. Cho Won-dong, director of state affairs at the Prime Minister¡¯s Office, Yim Jong-soon, director general of the FTA strategic planning office, Chung Sung, director general of food industry at the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, chief FTA regulator Lee Hye-min and Lee Sung-bok, public relations secretary at Cheong Wa Dae are also members of the taskforce.
¡°We will dispatch a group of lawmakers to the U.S. after passing the agenda in parliament sometime this month, and aim to have the FTA ratified this year at the plenary session.
¡°The opposition parties continue to insist that we devise complementary measures before passing the FTA, but these have already been made by the previous Roh Moo-hyun Administration, and are still underway,¡± said Hwang.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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