Government officials from South Korea and Thailand will convene in Bangkok on Thursday for a second round of talks on opening up South Korea's rice market.

Lee Jae-kil, chief delegate to the WTO's Doha Development Agenda talks, is leading the South Korean delegation composed of officials from the Agriculture and Finance Ministries as well as one private expert.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said Wednesday that Thailand, the world's largest rice exporter, wants South Korea to shift from its current minimum market access system to a tariff system.

The major focus of the negotiations is expected to center on whether Seoul will be able to extend its 10-year grace period on full-fledged rice market opening.

Seoul has already wrapped up a first round of rice talks with eight other countries, including the United States, China and Australia.

At the 1994 Uruguay Round of multilateral trade talks, South Korea was granted a ten-year grace period during which it was allowed to keep rice imports under four percent of domestic consumption.

According to agreements struck at those negotiations, South Korea must conclude talks on the wider opening of its rice market by the end of this year.