World Business Briefing: South Korea: Protest Over Trade Talks
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Tens of thousands of South Korean workers held rallies and staged strikes to oppose a free trade agreement with the United States and demand better working conditions. Chanting ÂDown, down F.T.A.,Â thousands of protesters held a peaceful rally near the city hall in central Seoul, while hundreds clashed with police in the southwestern city of Gwangju. No injuries were reported. The protest comes less than two weeks before South Korean and American negotiators meet for their fifth round of free trade talks in the United States to hammer out an accord that would sharply reduce tariffs and other trade barriers. Seoul and Washington started the negotiations in June and have made some headway, but they are unlikely to wrap up an agreement by the end of this year, as originally hoped.
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TOKYO - South Korea hopes to break the impasse over North Koreaâs nuclear ambitions through a bilateral summit meeting, according to an interview with South Korean Prime Minister Lee Hai-Chan published in Japan on Friday.
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The European Union's chief negotiator in free trade talks with South Korea said Friday that the current round of negotiations has yielded significant advances but added that contentious issues such as automobiles were not discussed.
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Out of the ASEAN summit, South Korea and Singapore said they agreed to form a free-trade deal that covers nine broad areas, including electronics, finance and intellectual property rights.
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SEOUL, March 2 -- South Korea on Friday added pressure on North Korea to comply with an international disarmament agreement, refusing the impoverished nation's demand to restore full aid shipments until after its main nuclear reactor is shut down.
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North and South Korea have opened working-level talks on ways to implement a deal swapping raw materials for mineral exploration rights, the South's Unification Ministry said Thursday.
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South Korea and the United States held talks on Thursday to review labor and environmental standards included in a sweeping trade deal struck earlier in the year in order to help its passage in the U.S. Congress.
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South Korean and U.S. negotiators start a  round of crunch trade talks on Thursday, hoping to reach  agreement before an end-March deadline which could lead to the  biggest U.S. free trade pact in 15 years.
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South Korea is sceptical about reaching a substantive agreement at the next round of six-party talks aimed at dismantling North Korea&#39;s nuclear programmes, Seoul&#39;s top negotiator to the talks said today.
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South Korea is petitioning nations participating in the 5 th Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) starting here Oct. 8 to voice their support for resolving the continuing standoff over North Koreaâs nuclear weapons programs.
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U.S. and South Korean negotiators entered their final day of free trade talks Monday, what is expected to be the end of formal negotiations aimed at concluding a landmark deal by the end of March.
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Thousands of South Korean unionized workers went on strike on Wednesday demanding laws to protect labor and an end to talks on a free trade deal with the United States, labor leaders said.
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REDDELICH, Germany, June 5 -- The protesters, thousands of them, have crowded into a soggy tent city next to a potato field. They have spent months honing tactics and discussing strategy, all for a particular goal: to disrupt the summit of the world's biggest economic powers that begins Wednesday.
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South Korea and the United States were discussing a last-minute deal until late Friday night over how to deal with the North Korean nuclear issue ahead of the summit meeting between
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FROM today, almost 75 per cent of Singapore&#39;s domestic exports to South Korea, which amount to more than $3 billion, will enjoy immediate tariff elimination.
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BRUSSELS, Nov 10 (IPS) - Trade unions are coming together to protest EU  proposals on liberalising services in the internal market.
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The Korean Free Trade Agreement calls for eliminating tariffs on 95 percent of consumer and industrial products traded between the United States and South Korea.