Korea, Russia to Resume FTA Talks

Korea and Russia have agreed to resume free trade talks that ground to a halt in 2008. But Moscow remains less than enthusiastic about a bilateral trade pact.

Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Hyun Oh-seok in a ministerial meeting on Tuesday discussed steps to bolster economic ties with Russia. Seoul became keener on an FTA after Moscow joined the World Trade Organization last year and has been taking an active role in development projects in Siberia.

The two countries held two rounds of FTA talks in 2008, but Russia called them off because it felt the draft proposal was disadvantageous to Moscow.