Lee Myung-bak, the South Korean president, on Thursday assured Barack Obama, his US counterpart, that Seoul was willing to “talk again” about cars, the main sticking point to what stands to be the biggest US trade deal in more than a decade.
Speaking at a joint news conference, Mr Lee stopped well short of saying the bilateral deal, which was signed two years ago but has not been ratified by either country’s legislature, could be renegotiated as US congressmen demand, but his words appeared to soften Seoul’s previous position that the agreement could only go forward as written.
