South Korea pledged Friday to combat piracy of U.S. intellectual property, including the categories of movies and music.

The Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry said in a statement that it would continue to make efforts to strengthen the protection of copyrights in the future, adding that Seoul will review the U.S. government's requests and consider in a positive light those deemed helpful to protecting copyrights.

The government also expressed its regrets that the United States had failed to acknowledge Seoul's efforts to protect copyrights, asserting it has improved laws and regulations and initiated campaigns to crack down on piracy.

The announcement came hours after Washington put South Korea on its priority watch list for piracy of intellectual property rights, accusing it of failing to halt violations of U.S. copyright law.

Earlier, U.S. Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick said that Washington is committed to protecting American creative and intellectual property, adding that the United States will vigorously press trading partners to abide by copyright law.