Pasit Poomchusri, assistant director-general of the Commerce Ministry's Trade Negotiations Department, said that Asean should be more persuasive in its argument to urge Seoul to include more agricultural items in the Asean-South Korean FTA, which Thailand has refused to sign because of an absence of rice from the deal.

The agreement should enable Thailand to ask South Korea to show a more compromising stance after Seoul managed to strike a deal with Washington, the Thai official said.

South Korea and the United States yesterday concluded a historic trade deal that would scrap tariffs on a huge range of items but excludes rice, as Seoul had demanded.

Asean and South Korea are scheduled to discuss trade in services liberalisation in Seoul from April 8. But Thai officials are expected to raise the overall trade liberalisation with South Korean officials.

Pasit said that the South Korea-US trade deal should more or less serve as a model for a future bilateral trade deal with the US.

The bilateral trade talks between Thailand and the US have been stalled due to the September 19 coup in Thailand.

"We can see how they concluded the deal, even though the US has made it clear that the talks would not happen during the interim government," the trade official said.

The South Korean-US deal - the biggest for the US since the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993 and its first with a major Asian economy - must still survive opposition in the South Korean and US legislatures.

Petchanet Pratruangkrai

The Nation