A U.S. delegation of officials and lawmakers will visit South Korea later this month on a fact-finding mission ahead of the congressional deliberation of the pending free trade deal with South Korea, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

The delegation led by Commerce Secretary Gary Locke will travel to South Korea on April 27-29, meet with "several high-level Korean officials and tour businesses to learn about how American firms would benefit from a closer U.S.-Korea trading relationship," the department said in a statement.

The visit comes as the Obama administration prepares to present the Korea FTA to Congress for deliberation. Some congressional Republicans threaten to block President Obama's nomination for Locke's replacement unless Obama sends to Congress the Korea FTA together with similar deals with Colombia and Panama. Locke has been appointed U.S. ambassador to China.

The delegation, consisting of Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), Rep. David Reichert (R-WA) and three other congressmen, "will have an opportunity to see first-hand how KORUS will help create jobs here at home and spur economic growth in both the U.S. and Korea," the statement said.

Four of the five lawmakers sit on the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over trade agreement approval.

"On this trip, our delegation looks forward to gaining a first-hand understanding of how U.S. exports of goods and services will benefit from the market opening provisions of KORUS, which will translate into more jobs in America," Locke said in the statement. "In completing KORUS, President Obama lived up to his commitment to achieve the best deal possible for American businesses and its workers. It's also a good deal for Korea as we strengthen our economic relationship."

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk earlier this week urged Congress to move immediately to ratify the Korea FTA, saying the similar deals with Colombia and Panama will be ready in weeks.

"Korea is ready to go now, as we have said," Kirk said. "The Colombia trade agreement could be ready in a matter of weeks. And we expect the same to be true for Panama."

Washington reached a new deal with Bogota early this month on labor rights, which have served as a stumbling block to the deal's congressional approval since its signing in 2007.

The Obama administration also made progress recently in labor rights and the exchange of tax information with Panama to pave the way for the ratification of that pact.

Obama wants Congress to approve the Korea deal "this spring" so as not to lag behind the European Union, which ratified a similar deal with Seoul set to take effect in July.

Washington reached a supplemental deal with Seoul in December to address U.S. concerns over lopsided auto trade, the biggest hurdle to congressional approval.

The new deal calls for a delayed phase-out of auto tariffs in return for Washington's concessions on pork and medicine.

The Korea FTA was negotiated under the Trade Promotion Authority Act of 2002, which requires Congress to vote yes or no without amendments within 90 days of the deal's submission.

Obama has said the Korea FTA will support more than 70,000 jobs and help double U.S. exports within five years as the world's biggest economy struggles to escape the recession that began in late 2008, the worst in decades.

The International Trade Commission has estimated that the Korea FTA would annually add 10 to $12 billion to the U.S. GDP and roughly $10 billion to U.S. exports to Korea.

Source: Yonhap News (April 15, 2011)