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Lockheed Martin says... the price of its F-35 fighter jets will drop over the next five
years... to as low as 80 million U.S. dollars per plane.
The American aerospace company said Friday... that the cost is coming down... because the
level of production will be going up. Korea is set to finalize a plan to buy 40
of the radar-evading fighter jets to replace its aging fleet of F-4s and F-5s.
The initial plan was to purchase 60... but that was scaled back due to budget constraints.
While the price dip would appear to be welcome news for officials here,... they are cautious,...
calling the price reduction estimates a bit too optimistic.
Title: Korea-China FTA talks end without any major breakthroughs
The tenth round of free trade talks between Korea and China wrapped up on this Friday.
The two sides were unable to make any significant progress this time around, agreeing only to
try again in the next round. Our Laah Hyun-kyung reports. There were no
major breakthroughs on the Korea-China FTA,... says Korea's chief FTA negotiator Woo Tae-hee.
After wrapping up the talks, which took place over five days in Ilsan, north of Seoul,...
Woo told reporters... the two sides were only able to agree to disagree.
"We demanded that China lift tariffs on our manufacturing goods in the early stage , while
China asked for an opening of Korea's agricultural market. The two sides were in a tug of war
and not much progress could be made."
But he added... it doesn't mean the talks were falling apart.
Seoul and Beijing are still in the process of understanding each other's needs... and
they will meet again in May or June for another round of talks in China.
During this round,... the tenth, the two discussed tariff concessions on various goods, including
items classified as both sensitive and highly sensitive.
China is Korea's top trading partner, with analysts predicting that Seoul's GDP will
increase by up to 3 percent in the ten years after the deal takes effect.
But farmers in Korea oppose the deal, saying it will devastate Korea's agricultural sector.
Another issue of contention related to the deal... is illegal fishing by Chinese fishermen
in Korean waters. Korean trade officials worry that fish illegally
caught by Chinese fishermen in Korea's West Sea could end up enjoying tariff benefits.
"Trade officials say the issue has not been an official subject of debate during the negotiations
yet,... but added that Korea will continue to raise the issue... so the two sides can
formally discuss the matter in the coming rounds of talks.
Laah Hyun-kyung, Arirang News, Sejong."