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A senior U.S. congressman said Friday he will rally for a free trade agreement (FTA) with South Korea during his visit to Seoul but was skeptical that he would change his mind about an inter-Korean tourism venture he sees as a cash cow for a Pyongyang regime bent on nuclear weapons development.

"I think we will bring back the evidence that the U.S. will lose out tremendously as a key player in the South Korean economy if we don't go forward and ratify the (free trade) agreement," Rep.

Ed Royce (R-California) told Yonhap in a telephone interview. For one thing, he said, the Asian nation is negotiating an FTA with other nations.

"We have a choice here. We can adopt a win-win... or we can be left out in the cold," he said.

"I am going to have an opportunity to express my views when I return. It will be a helpful trip from that standpoint."

Signed in June, the South Korea-U.S. FTA is awaiting ratification by the respective legislatures.

Royce, an eight-term congressman representing Fullerton, near Los Angeles, heads out to Seoul with Rep. Diane Watson (D-California) for a trip Aug. 25-31. They will lead the U.S.

delegation to the annual parliamentary exchange with South Korea.

Royce has been chairman of the parliamentary exchange since its founding in 1999.

Watson also has expressed support for the trade pact.

The lawmakers will visit Mount Kumgang, a scenic mountain resort in North Korea. South Korean firm Hyundai Asan is in charge of the tourism venture that pays the North for the business. Some hardliners, including Royce, are harsh critics of it, saying the money given to the North goes into the pockets of the few elite and probably funds the country's nuclear weapons program.

The trip was recommended by the South Korean parliament and arranged by the Unification Ministry, Royce said. He and Watson will be the first American legislators to go to Mount Kumgang.

"We will see the project but with our eyes wide open, with the full understanding of exactly what's under way," he said.

"We are accepting the hospitality of our host. We will learn a great deal, but we will also learn from the fact that we know already a lot about the nature of the regime in North Korea."

His criticism of the project relates not only to its suspected cash flow to the North but also its insulated nature -- the deliberate restrictions on interaction between North Korean citizens and tourists.

"There is a great deal of separation. There is a great deal of effort to keep that interaction from occurring," said Royce.

There was initial excitement that the legislators would be in Seoul while an inter-Korean summit was under way in Pyongyang. But the summit was delayed to October due to serious floods in the North.

Royce said he is hopeful that the summit would promote true peace on the Korean Peninsula and discourage the North from continuing its nuclear development and proliferation.

"There is always a worry, given the past nature of the regime, that they will revert to their past tactics," he said, "but hope springs eternal that North Korea will change its course."

The delegation will participate in the conference on North Korean refugees and human rights, attended this year by some 50 lawmakers from 15 countries.

This year's meeting will focus especially on petitioning China not to repatriate North Korean refugees who flee across their shared border, Royce said.WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 (Yonhap News)