A group of 56 South Korean and U.S. lawmakers have called for a renegotiation of the South Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (FTA) in a letter sent to President Lee Myung-bak and U.S. President Barack Obama.

According to the “Inside U.S. Trade” business daily, 35 South Korean legislators from Korea’s four major political parties and 21 Democrats from the House of Representatives signed the letter.

In it, the legislators urged Lee and Obama to make "meaningful changes" to the text of the U.S.-South Korea FTA, especially on the investor-state dispute settlement mechanism and financial services.

The letter noted that South Korea and the U.S. have traded goods and services worth some 70 billion dollars every year for the past decade without a trade pact. The legislators said the bilateral trade agreement must be finalized in a way that would benefit both countries.