South Korea is weighing when and how to participate in a U.S.-led multilateral free trade agreement, known as the Trans Pacific Partnership, though its final decision has yet to be made, a senior trade official said Tuesday.



The move comes as the ongoing negotiations for the TPP are approaching an apparent end, according to Deputy Trade Minister Woo Tae-hee.



"The government plans to hold a fresh round of bilateral talks with other participating countries if necessary as the recent dialogue between the United States and Japan appears to have made progress," he told a press briefing.



Woo, however, said the country has yet to make a final decision on its participation in the TPP, adding that such a decision requires a due process that includes a report to the National Assembly.



Differences between the two countries, mostly over agriculture and intellectual properties issues, have largely been blamed for a prolonged impasse in the trade negotiations that were first held in 2005.



The TPP negotiations currently involve 10 other countries: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.



South Korea has held three rounds of what it has called preliminary bilateral negotiations with the 12 participating countries since it expressed an interest in taking part in the multilateral FTA in late 2013.



A fresh round of bilateral talks, if held, will seek to set the date for an announcement of Seoul's participation in TPP, according to Woo.



"We plan to hold a fresh round of negotiations to see when and how we can join the TPP," he said.



Woo's remarks came about three weeks after Trade Minister Yoon Sang-jick said the country could not afford to be left out of what he said will be a great global value chain.



"We must carefully consider the kind of situation the country will face should South Korea be left out of the great global value chain. In that sense, I believe we must actively consider our participation in the TPP," Yoon had said.



Once signed, the TPP is expected to create one of the world's largest economic blocs with the 12 currently participating countries jointly accounting for nearly 40 percent of the global gross domestic product.



A 2013 report from the state-funded Korea Institute for International Economic Policy said the country's membership in the TPP will boost its own GDP by 2.6 percent over 10 years while its failure to join the regional trade pact will reduce the GDP by 0.1 percent over the same period. (Yonhap)

