South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Tuesday completed the process to implement a contentious free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States by signing a slew of bills.

"The free trade agreement will open the door to the American market, which is the world's largest," Lee said after signing the bills. "Let's overcome (economic difficulties) by taking advantage of the agreement."

Vulnerable domestic industries should be well prepared to boost their competitiveness to survive market competition, the president added.

The move came after Lee's ruling Grand National Party rammed through the trade pact last week despite fierce resistance from opposition lawmakers, following the endorsement by the U.S. Congress last month.

The opposition even resorted to tear gas in their desperation, but it did little to stop the conservative ruling party, which holds a comfortable parliamentary majority, from passing the long- stalled bill.

Policy think tanks here say the bilateral deal will create 350, 000 new jobs and increase South Korea's gross domestic product ( GDP) by 5.66 percent, but critics dispute the estimate.

Claiming the deal only favors Washington's interests and will be a blow to the agricultural industry and small business owners, liberal and left-leaning opposition parties have denounced the unilateral move and called the legislative approval "invalid".

Led by the main opposition Democratic Party, the opposition camp plans to lodge a complaint against the country's trade minister for neglect of duty in failing to confirm opposition claims the agreement will take a toll on ordinary people's livelihoods.

The opposition has been bolstered by mass rallies held daily in downtown Seoul, with at least thousands of people showing up every day to voice their opposition to the trade pact.

Prior to the ratification, the biggest bone of contention was the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISD) clause in the trade pact, which the opposition said would hurt the country's sovereignty in policy-making by allowing U.S. investors to settle disputes with the South Korean government at international courts.

The opposition camp had insisted the clause be removed, leading the president to offer to propose renegotiation with the United States once the deal gets legislative approval here.

Liberals and leftists rejected what they saw as a mere verbal promise, which was a last straw for the conservatives who went on to push through the bill.

Still, the president brushes off mounting controversies surrounding the trade agreement as confusion on the part of South Koreans.

"The government should offer detailed explanations to correct misunderstandings about the free trade agreement so people wouldn' t worry about it," Lee was quoted as saying by presidential spokesman Park Jeong-ha.

Source: Xinhua News