UPDATE 1-EU, South Korea aiming for trade deal this year

(adds details from news conferences)

By William Schomberg

BRUSSELS, May 15 (Reuters) - The European Union and South Korea will speed up their free trade negotiations in the hope of striking a deal this year, negotiators said on Thursday, but the two sides were far apart on the core issue of cars.

Brussels and Seoul, hoping to boost their $100 billion trade flows, launched the negotiations a year ago, shortly after the United States clinched a free trade deal with South Korea.

For the EU, an agreement to lower barriers to trade and investment with South Korea would be its first such pact in Asia and a boost for EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson as he tries to hammer out deals before his term ends next year.

"Both sides are convinced that on the basis of the progress made during this round that it is feasible and desirable to conclude the EU-Korea FTA negotiations during the course of 2008," EU lead negotiator Ignacio Garcia Bercero said.

"Both sides agree to accelerate the process so as to reach agreement as early as possible," he said at the end of a four-day negotiating session, the seventh since the talks began.

EU officials have previously shied away from talking about possible end-dates for the talks. But Garcia Bercero stressed Brussels would not dilute its demands just to get a deal done before the Commission's term ends in 2009.

His Korean counterpart said there was a risk of failure despite progress in several areas.