WASHINGTON -- U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has blasted the free trade agreement with South Korea as a destroyer of jobs in the American auto industry, not a creator as promised by the administration.

   Trump made the accusations during a campaign speech in Ohio, one of the "rust belt" regions with declining economies, blaming free trade deals for job losses and other economic woes and accusing his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, of backing such agreements.

   "Hillary Clinton supported and lobbied for the South Korea trade agreement, you know that one, that's been another disaster, on the promise of 75,000 new jobs. Instead, her trade deal destroyed 100,000 jobs, mostly in the auto industry," Trump said during the rally.

   "And believe me, as you stand here today, your executives are negotiating deals to move businesses out of Ohio and into Mexico and other countries, because we have nobody to protect our companies and really nobody to protect our workers," he said.

   The painstakingly negotiated Korea-U.S. FTA has been in effect since 2012 and has widely been considered a symbol of the economic alliance between the two countries. Attempts to revise or renegotiate the agreement could set off diplomatic tensions.

   Trump claims the pact ended up increasing U.S. imports from the South while failing to increase exports.

   The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) said in a report in late June that the Korea deal has been good for American interests, saying the agreement is estimated to have improved bilateral merchandise trade balances by $15.8 billion last year (Yonhap)