Minister for Trade Kim Hyun-chong said Wednesday that despite strong opposition from the U.S. political and business sectors, Washington's threat to scrap the South Korea-U.S. free trade agreement(FTA) is real and imminent.
 
Kim made the remarks during a news conference at the South Korean Embassy in Washington. He is visiting the U.S. to attend a second round of talks next Wednesday over Washington's request to amend the bilateral trade accord.
 
Kim said that the U.S. is likely to continuously use the FTA as leverage, adding that in light of such possibility the government will devise ways to effectively block the U.S. threat while thoroughly preparing for discussions on revising the deal.
 
Kim’s latest comments suggest that the U.S. could again seek to withdraw from the bilateral trade deal.
 
U.S. President Donald Trump had floated the idea of scrapping the FTA earlier this month. However, following North Korea's sixth nuclear test conducted on September third, the mood swiftly changed with the White House announcing that the U.S. would not hold discussions on the FTA for the time being.