Agriculture, other thorny issues to be hashed out

Advancing negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement is a central focus of the first visit by the President of the Republic of Korea Park Geun-hye to China since she took office earlier this year.

China is currently the ROK's largest trading partner. Beijing wishes to reduce its trade deficit with Seoul through the agreement, commentators in the Chinese media have said, expressing hopes that the two sides will make breakthroughs in agriculture, which has been an obstacle to progress in the past.