South Korea will do its best to reach a free trade deal with the United States but will not suffer "one-sided" losses, President Roh Moo-Hyun has said.

"I will do my best. I will step up efforts to strike a deal on the FTA (free trade agreement)," Roh told a New Year news conference.

"We should do our best but at the same we should not suffer one-sided losses. The government will make a fair judgement on this issue," he said.

Roh has been pushing for the FTA despite strong and occasionally violent opposition from farmers, unionists and activists who fear a deal could cost jobs by allowing in cheap imported goods and services.

The two countries are to hold a seventh round of talks in the United States in February.

At the end of the sixth round in Seoul last week, South Korean negotiators said there were still sharp differences on three sensitive issues -- US anti-dumping rules, and non-tariff barriers in South Korea's auto and drug markets.

But Assistant US Trade Representative Wendy Cutler voiced optimism about the outcome, saying a deal could be reached before an effective deadline in April.

"My view, coming out of here this week, is that this deal can be done," she said.

Washington needs an agreement no later than early April if it is to be cleared by the US Congress before President George W. Bush's powers to fast-track trade deals expires in June.

The FTA with South Korea would be the US' biggest deal since the North American NAFTA pact in 1994, marrying two economies whose bilateral trade in 2005 was 72 billion dollars.

South Korean officials say the FTA will help Asia's third-largest economy increase exports and upgrade its industrial structure.