By Hyonhee Shin

(Bloomberg) — South Korea sees no chance of clinching a comprehensive trade agreement with the US before a presidential election on June 3, Vice Industry Minister Park Sung-taek said Monday, citing the complexity of the issues involved and political uncertainties.

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Seoul will send a delegation to Washington this week for working-level talks to follow up on last week’s progress, but agreeing to any package of measures before early June is “theoretically impossible,” Park said.

The vice minister’s comments follow US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s remark on Thursday that the two countries could reach an “agreement of understanding” as soon as this week following last week’s trade talks in Washington. Bessent said negotiations were progressing faster than expected ahead of a July 8 deadline for bringing the tariffs into effect after a pause.

Park’s comments indicate that it will take more time to reach a wider deal with uncertainty over the South Korean election result complicating what is already an unusual negotiation process.

“If you look at the time frame presented by the US side, there are about only 70 days left,” Park said at a briefing. “The US side also understands that our special political situation can be a constraint.”

Both sides have already agreed to create several working groups in areas including tariffs, non-tariff barriers, economic security, investment and exchange rates, and the working-level delegation will aim to finalize details in these areas, Park said.

The trade ministers will then hold talks when US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer visits South Korea for an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ministers’ meeting in mid-May.

The broad range of issues to be discussed and the “atypical” negotiation format are requiring Seoul to navigate “uncharted territory,” Park said.

“Even if we just follow the schedule, it is quite challenging to achieve results within 70 days despite President Trump’s expectations,” he said. “Still, both countries will prioritize the negotiations and aim for a July deal.”

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