SEOUL: South Korea wants US President Barack Obama to push more aggressively for approval of a free trade agreement the two countries signed more than two years ago, a Seoul official said Monday.

The sweeping pact approved in June 2007 awaits ratification by both countries' legislatures. US critics say South Korea must address a big imbalance in the auto trade and fully open its beef markets.

South Korean officials said the issue would be discussed during a Seoul summit on November 19 between Obama and President Lee Myung-Bak.

"The leaders of the two governments have repeatedly affirmed their efforts for progress in ratifying the FTA, and there will be sincere discussions on this issue at the upcoming summit," said presidential spokeswoman Kim Eun-Hye.

"We hope President Obama will express a more aggressive position on the FTA and are working towards that end."

Kim said the mood was growing more favourable for ratification, citing a letter sent by 88 US legislators last week to Obama urging quick action, but he added that the issue would not be settled at the summit.

Autos and beef have been major hurdles to US approval of the FTA, which would be the largest US trade pact since the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico.

Many Democrats are concerned that it would draw a backlash from trade unions as fears mount over job losses amid the country's worst recession in decades.

South Korea shipped about 700,000 cars to the United States in 2007 while 5,000 moved in the opposite direction, official figures show.

Analysts in Seoul say the figures exclude more than 125,000 vehicles made by a General Motors subsidiary in Korea while including vehicles made by a Hyundai plant in Alabama.

The United States is South Korea?s fourth largest trading partner, with two-way trade worth almost US$85 billion in 2008.

Last month South Korea signed a landmark deal with the European Union, its second largest trade partner after China. Seoul officials hope that pact will spur the US Congress to action.

- AFP/yb