Korea's chief delegate to free trade talks with the U.S. says that this week's negotiations saw considerable progress, declaring that the FTA can be concluded on time.

Chief delegate Kim Jong-hoon's remarks Wednesday at the closing news conference for the seventh round imply that an FTA could be realized by early April, given the June 30th expiration of President George W. Bush's "fast-track" Trade Promotion Authority.

Kim noted, however, that it's difficult to say whether the final agreement is impending or satisfactory.

Also at the news conference, Kim said the U.S. plan on textile market opening did not meet expectations and leaves room for further discussion. But he didn't disclose details of Korea's revised plan for eased U.S. anti-dumping regulations.

He said that with the help of video conferencing, talks on labor, environment and electronic commerce may not be necessary at the eighth round of talks, which opens March eighth for a five-day run in Seoul.

Kim denied speculation that 18 different rice products could also be opened to U.S. competition according to their sensitivity, reiterating that the government had made a promise to the Korean public on the rice issue and had made that clear to the U.S.

U.S. chief delegate Wendy Cutler said earlier in a news conference that the seventh round saw the biggest progress especially on product trade, electronic commerce and product origin rules.

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