The government will likely open up the domestic market for herbal medicine to the United States if a free trade agreement is reached.

Seoul has requested bilateral recognition of 17 occupations including doctors, nurses, architects, engineers. Washington has made the request only for herbal doctors.

An official in Seoul said Sunday that it is hard to reject the U.S. demand as Washington made the request for just one occupation compared with Seoul's 17.

The move will likely result in a huge change for Korea's 20,000 herbal doctors if implemented, as they would have to compete with 60,000 American counterparts.