Congress approves South Korea-US free trade agreement

The US Congress has approved the South Korea-US free trade agreement (FTA). The House of Representatives passed the trade deal on Wednesday during its plenary session by a vote of 278 to 151 with five abstentions. The Senate passed the accord shortly after by a vote of 83 to 15, according to Korean (KBS WORLD) website. US President Barack Obama is expected to sign the FTA bill into law once he receives it from Congress. The congressional approval of the deal follows eleven months of efforts to ratify the bill after South Korea and the US held renegotiations on the trade pact. The bill''s ratification also comes four years and three months after the two countries signed the trade pact. However, on the South Korean side, the bill is still pending in the National Assembly. The ruling Grand National Party''s Hong Joon-pyo on Wednesday urged the nation''s lawmakers to pass the deal within the month despite the main opposition Democratic Party''s claim that a renegotiation of the deal is necessary to seal the trade pact.