Many U.S. opinion leaders closely following free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations with South Korea believe the recent flare-up over beef could turn into a deal-breaker, a survey released Tuesday said.

The survey found majority believe the resumed nuclear talks with North Korea will not affect the mood at the FTA talks and that the Democrat-controlled Congress is also not likely to sway much the chances of concluding the agreement by the targeted deadline.

The Korea Economic Institute based in Washington polled 25 individuals Dec. 14-Jan. 9, 22 of them who participated in the two previous surveys by the institute plus three new respondents. The canvassed group includes 12 from trade and business organizations, eight from think tanks and Korea specialists, and five current and former U.S. government officials.

Because of the small pool of respondents, the institute recommended against drawing definitive conclusions.

The results were released as negotiators were meeting in Seoul for the sixth round of discussions as the target deadline of March was nearing. The two sides hope to strike a full deal by then to benefit under the U.S. trade promotion authority (TPA) which requires the Congress to vote up or down on an FTA without seeking amendments. The authority expires in July.

One of the holdups is South Korea's rejection of U.S. beef shipments after bone chips were discovered among them. When lifting some three years of import ban caused by mad cow disease scare, Seoul agreed to import only boneless products.

Fifth-six per cent answered continued rejection of American beef will be a deal-breaker. Another 40 per cent said it will not be.

Asked to given multiple answers on what other areas could break the deal for the U.S. side, 13 cited automobiles, while 10 named Kaesong industrial complex.

Kaesong is a pilot inter-Korean economic venture that Seoul wants to include for FTA-covered products. Washington balks at the idea of accepting products made in North Korean territory.

For the South Korean side, the respondents predicted that possible deal-breakers would be rice (15) and agriculture in general (10).

Given the pace of negotiations so far, respondents were split equally on whether the difficulties were normal part of trade talks (40 per cent) or reflected more serious differences (40 percent).

Sixty-eight per cent said the resumption of North Korean nuclear dialogue will not matter much for the FTA because they are two separate negotiations. Thirty-six per cent said the Democrat-controlled Congress made "somewhat less likely" that the FTA would be concluded before the TPA expiration, while 16 percent said it would be "much less likely."

Many respondents believe a good word from South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun would brighten prospects of FTA passing his legislature.

Asked if strong public statement of support by Roh would help such prospects, 76 per cent answered yes.