Anchor: Seoul and Washington are set to renegotiate their five-year-old bilateral free trade agreement later this week. Our Oh Soo-young breaks down the possible revisions the two sides may request. 
 
Report: South Korea and the United States will begin the first round of renegotiation talks on their bilateral free trade agreement(FTA) on Friday.
 
Over the past year, President Donald Trump has sharply criticized the five-year-old treaty, blaming it for America’s trade deficit in goods with South Korea, despite the U.S.’ own trade surplus in services.
 
To narrow down the trade imbalance in goods, Seoul expects Washington to call for revisions to abolish duties and lower non-tariff barriers on U.S. products -- especially automobiles and agricultural products.
 
In terms of services and investment, the U.S. may request the South to restrict the use of data localization requirements as well as those on source and algorithm disclosure for American companies, as it did in renegotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA).
 
Other requests may be made during or after the first round of talks, South Korea's trade ministry said, noting that Washington did not reveal all its cards during the first NAFTA renegotiation session.
 
Meanwhile, Seoul will seek a "reciprocal deal,” according to the ministry. Protecting the country's agricultural sector will be a priority. The ministry said it may ask the U.S. to ease its harsh safeguard regulations on American beef as requested by South Korean farmers.
 
South Korea will also request an improvement in standards for investor state dispute settlements, a system through which investors can sue governments for discriminatory practices.
 
Seoul's trade officials are likely to ask Washington to swiftly execute the removal of duties and non-tariff barriers that remain.
 
In a report to the National Assembly earlier this month, the trade ministry said it expects a partial revision to the agreement but has not ruled out the possibility of a complete overhaul.
Oh Soo-young, KBS World Radio News.