Korea's National Assembly to Hold Hearing Next Week

Korea's National Assembly will hold hearings on the trade agreement next week: Parliamentary committee to hold hearing on Korea-U.S. FTA (YOnhap News, May 6):

South Korea's parliamentary committee will hold a hearing next week on a free trade deal with Washington as public opinion appears to be turning against the trade pact, which is closely linked to a controversial deal to open the country's market to U.S. beef....

Members of the National Assembly foreign affairs committee on Tuesday approved a motion to hold a hearing on the FTA May 13-14. The hearing will question up to 30 government officials including Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan and Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-chun.

The agriculture minister will also disclose details of last month's beef negotiations with Washington as a follow-up report to a separate hearing scheduled Wednesday on the beef deal....

But opposition parties want more time and are using the controversial beef deal as their reason for delaying ratification of the FTA.

To read more about the ratification process in Korea: Ratification - Korea.