US unemployment is high, and few politicians are willing to support trade pacts that many voters believe rob Americans of jobs. Lawmakers also have plenty of other issues, including an overhaul of financial regulations, to fill their agenda this year.

The ambitious deal to cut trade barriers was signed in 2007 but has since languished amid US dissatisfaction over a yawning gap in auto trade between the countries.

Still, advocates continue to push for the accord to be sent to Congress for a ratification vote, portraying it as potentially a huge export boon for both countries.

Two senior US senators, Democrat John Kerry and Republican Richard Lugar, urged President Barack Obama in a letter this month to press ahead with an accord they said would help the United States create jobs and strengthen the countries' alliance.

The New Beginnings policy study group, comprised mostly of former US officials and diplomats, warned this week in a report that failure to act quickly "will not only hurt the American economy and cost American jobs, but will also reduce US credibility and influence with South Korea and all of East Asia." The trade deal also got a boost from Hwang Jang Yop, the highest-ranking North Korean official ever to defect to South Korea. Hwang used a rare trip to Washington in March to voice support for the accord as a way to thwart the North's efforts to weaken the US-South Korean alliance.

Obama's Democratic Party controls Congress, and he has pledged to strengthen trade ties with South Korea. But Obama has yet to push Congress and businesses for the support needed to pass a deal that is more favored by opposition Republicans than by Democrats.

Many Democrats want South Korea to address its wide surplus in auto trade.

Rep. Sander Levin, the Democratic chairman of the House of Representatives committee that oversees trade policies, said recently that South Korea allows only a small number of American cars into the country while a flood of South Korean autos enters the United States.

"They have a wall against our exports," Levin, who is from the auto-making state of Michigan, said in a speech.

"It's a one-way street." Meanwhile, South Korea is not waiting around for the Americans. It has a number of pacts in force and has concluded negotiations with the European Union, although that agreement must still be signed and ratified.

Deputy US Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis said US officials realize South Korea is pursuing other trade deals aggressively. But the Americans are wary of rushing.

"There's a perception that you can sort of wave your magic wand and this can be done very quickly," Marantis said in an interview. "We want to do our homework to make sure that when this is done, it is as meaningful as it can be in terms of creating opportunities for the real people in this country who are going to stand to benefit from it." South Korea has warned that the United States could lose several hundred thousand jobs if it should fail to ratify and the European Parliament ratified Seoul's trade agreement with the EU.

Jeffrey Schott, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said the longer it takes to ratify the US-South Korean deal, the more other countries will get "the preferences that were going to go to US

firms and workers." If Republicans should score big gains in November's congressional elections, as many predict, that could revive prospects for the agreement next year. It may be an issue in which Obama can find common ground with Republicans who have opposed most of his agenda.