Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will push for a free-trade pact with South Korea when he meets President Roh Moo-hyun next week, an official said Thursday.
The two countries had earlier agreed to study such a pact. But Koizumi plans to propose full-scale negotiations on implementing it when Roh visits Tokyo on June 7, said Izuru Kobayashi, spokesman for the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
A study group began drawing up the framework for a bilateral free-trade zone in April 2002 with the goal of nailing down specifics within two years.
"Full-scale negotiations are the obvious next step," Kobayashi said, adding that both countries see benefits from free trade and are interested in speeding up the process.
Japan has penned a bilateral free-trade agreement with Singapore and is seeking similar deals with Thailand, the Philippines and Mexico.
But progress has been slow as the government faces stiff resistance from the powerful farming bloc, which stands to lose from reductions in tariffs.
Japan imported 1.94 trillion yen in South Korean goods in 2002 and was South Korea's third-largest export market.
It shipped 3.57 trillion yen in goods to South Korea, which is also Japan's third-largest export market.