South Korea's finance minister asked lawmakers Thursday to cooperate in swiftly passing a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States, saying that the deal would help the nation gain a preemptive position in one of the world's largest markets. The Korea-U.S. FTA, known as KORUS FTA, was signed in 2007 but the deal was supplemented in late December with minor modifications that mostly deal with the auto industry. The agreement has been awaiting approval from the legislatures of the two cou