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By Son Key-young Staff Reporter

Korea and the United States have made considerable progress in their negotiations to revise the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), but failed to iron out differences on several key issues, a Foreign Affairs-Trade Ministry official said yesterday.

The two countries have wrapped up 13 days of talks without issuing any official announcement.

``We have made considerable progress in all issues, including criminal jurisdiction, environment, labor, areas and facilities, quarantine, and civil proceedings,'' said Song Min-soon, director general of the Foreign Affairs-Trade Ministry's North American Affairs Bureau, who led the Korean delegation.

Noting that the two countries will maintain contacts through diplomatic channels, Song said they are likely to meet again as early as within this year.

According to Song, ``the complexity of issues'' has marred a breakthrough in the prolonged negotiations.

As he said it is necessary to hold consultations with the government agencies concerned, it is believed that there will be some internal talks on Seoul's strategies in a last-ditch effort to revise the agreement before President Bill Clinton leaves office on Jan. 20.

The Korean delegation consists of officials from the Foreign Affairs- Trade, Justice, Defense, Environment, Agriculture-Forestry, Labor and Finance-Economy Ministries.

As for the inclusion of regulations on environmental protection, the official said the two countries launched negotiations on whether to include environmental regulations in the agreement governing the administrative affairs of 37,000 U.S. troops stationed in Korea. However, they failed to reach an agreement, he added.

The U.S. delegation, led by Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Frederick Smith, left Seoul yesterday.

Seoul's primary goal is to revise the agreement by reflecting Korea's changed international status and the results of earlier revisions, made bilaterally between the United States and other countries where U.S. troops are stationed.

This latest round of intense talks could be regarded as a major effort to narrow their differences over the revision of the agreement, which has been one of the constant sources of trouble between the two allies.

The recent rounds of SOFA negotiations resumed in August, nearly four years after talks were deadlocked over criminal jurisdiction and other issues in 1996.

The two sides revised the agreement in 1991 and a new round of negotiations for additional revision began in 1995.