South Korea and the United States have held negotiations in Washington on the opening of Seoul's rice market.

The talks were the first such meeting with Seoul among the nine countries who have agreed to hold bilateral rice talks.

The South Korean delegation was led by Foreign Ministry's special envoy to the Doha Development Agenda meeting, Lee jae-kil. The two sides exchanged views on future negotiation agendas as well as their basic positions on rice market opening.

The government plans to conclude separate one-on-one rice talks with the nine nations and present their agreements to the World Trade Organization by the end of September. However, difficulties are expected to emerge in the process of negotiations over Seoul's push for an extension of its right to limit rice imports in order to provide continued protection for local rice farmers.