SEOUL (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton used a brief stopover in South Korea to discuss joint efforts to ratify a free trade agreement and get North Korea back to nuclear disarmament talks.
Clinton met with Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan on Saturday evening before planned talks early Sunday with President Lee Myung-bak.
Clinton told Kim that she was "very encouraged and determined" to get the free trade agreement ratified. The two countries worked out a hard-fought compromise in early December altering the original deal, signed in June 2007, because of U.S. complaints that it did not secure enough access for American automakers.
Moves for ratification had also stalled amid changes in government in both countries and the global financial crisis.
"We will be consulting and making the case together to our respective legislatures and I'm very confident that there will be a positive outcome that will benefit both of our countries," Clinton said.
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