There are a couple of calculations here. The first I think has to do with who the demander is, who has the stronger hand in the negotiations, and who is lining up to negotiate with whom.
My own sense is that Korea has a long list of suitors at its door wanting to negotiate agreements. If we aren't able to follow through on 10 or 12 rounds of negotiations, it might be difficult to restart, even if Mr. Sinclair is right, in 2009 or 2010, if and when the U.S. ratifies.
The second issue is this. We're all going on the assumption that if the U.S. ratifies, we can get at least as good a deal as the Americans. Now, that may not be the case. As we've seen from the experience with Singapore, where we started negotiations with them and the Americans started later but concluded before we did, we can't seem to get the same deal that they did. I think delaying will make it even worse.
So on balance--this is simply a political and partly economic call on my part--because we've started a process and have created some good faith with the Korean negotiators, there is a template and a benchmark that the Americans have set, and it would be in our interest to try to follow through and finish it off.