Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Paik Un-gyu said Monday that he believes there will be good results within the week regarding South Korea's exemption from U.S. steel tariffs which is currently being negotiated.

While attending a working group meeting on the government's basic energy plan in Seoul Monday morning, the minister told reporters the government was striving to obtain country exemption from Washington's tariff decision on imported steel.

He said it's not appropriate to talk about negotiations beforehand. But he explained that the U.S. views South Korea as an ally but also has concerns about excess steel output in general and the two sides were discussing those matters.

Regarding the possibility of reaching a package deal on both the tariffs issue and the revision of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement(FTA), the minister said the two discussions are under way with several possibilities in mind.