Brussels, 03/10/2007 (Agence Europe) - Stalled after the first three rounds of talks (see EUROPE 9502), the negotiations over a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) between the EU and South Korea will be high on the agenda during the meeting in Brussels on 9 October between South Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon and EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson. The meeting will be followed by a fourth round of FTA talks in Seoul, the South Korean capital, later this month. The third round of bilateral talks from 17-21 September 2007 (see EUROPE 9504) led to considerable progress in services but failed to resolve the question of eliminating tariffs on bilateral trade in industrial products. According to South Korean press agency Yonhap, cars and precision engineering machinery for manufacturing semiconductors have been a particularly difficult issue to resolve. In July 2007, the EU suggested phasing out all import taxes on South Korean goods over a 7 year period, but the new South Korean offering only suggests liberalisation of around 80%. Mandelson and Kim will also discuss the multilateral trade negotiations at the World Trade Organisation (the Doha Trade Round), where the EU sees eye to eye with South Korea, the leading G10 net agricultural importing country, on farm interests. (eh)