U.S., South Korea trade talks miss deadline

By Jack Kim

SEOUL (Reuters) - U.S. and South Korean negotiators missed their deadline on Monday to announce a major trade pact but continued to pursue a deal into the early hours of the morning.

It is the second deadline that has gone by in the search for what would be the largest U.S. trade pact in 15 years. The first was on Saturday and the second 1 a.m. on Monday in Seoul (1600 GMT on Sunday).

A U.S. trade official, asking to remain anonymous, said several hours after the deadline passed that a deal had been put on the table and that both sides were now weighing whether to accept it.

One protester against the proposed free-trade agreement set fire to himself near the central Seoul hotel which has been the venue for the final round of talks over the past week.

The 56-year-old man was taken to hospital where he was in critical condition with third-degree burns.

South Korean officials have said the most contentious issues were agriculture, including beef and oranges, autos and textiles.

In the past few days, U.S. leaders have been loudly pressing demands that South Korea open its tightly protected market to American beef and autos.

Beef is not strictly part of the negotiations but has become closely linked. South Korea used to be a major market for U.S. beef until Seoul banned imports in 2002 due a U.S. mad cow outbreak. South Korea said in September it would resume imports if beef parts it deemed risky, such as bones, were not included.