Blue House scales back its rush to FTA ratification
The Hankyoreh | 5 February 2009
Blue House scales back its rush to FTA ratification
Both the government and the ruling party seem to be waiting for the Americans to make up their minds
The Blue House is relaxing its position on ratifying the free trade agreement with the United States this month, having once insisted that it wanted the ruling Grand National Party to have the ratification bill passed in February’s extraordinary session of the National Assembly. The change comes in the wake of the GNP’s decision to remove the ratification bill from the shortlist of bills it is going to focus on during the extraordinary session.
“There’s no reason for us to hurry in a situation where the U.S. hasn’t decided on a clear position,” said a key Blue House official in a telephone interview with The Hankyoreh on Tuesday. “We’ll focus on legislation that pertains to the economic welfare of the people and then keep pace as we watch the American situation, since the bill to ratify is at least in the relevant standing committee.”
Another key Blue House official said “nothing has changed” about the Lee Myung-bak administration’s position that the FTA should be ratified “as soon as practicable.”
“The administration’s position is that it should be ratified ‘as soon as practicable’ instead of that it has to be in February,” he said.
Meanwhile, GNP member Kim Chung-kwon confirmed that his party is not including ratification among the fifteen bills it wants to have passed by the end of February’s extraordinary session, adding that the decision should be “a symbolic expression saying that we are going to approach the session with flexibility.”
GNP spokesman Yoon Sang-hyun said the decision “means we are going to have calm discussion in the standing committee since the ruling and opposition parties have agreed to hold a vote” soon after the inauguration of U.S. President Barack Obama.
The messages coming from the Blue House and the GNP are being interpreted to mean they are not going to force the ratification bill through the National Assembly in February’s extraordinary session, and that this essentially means they have given up on having the FTA ratified at an early date.
Democratic Party Chairman Chung Sye-kyun welcomed the change and interpreted it to mean the GNP is not going to try to vote on ratification in the immediate future.
“It is only a matter of course that the ruling party not make haste in ratifying the FTA,” he said. “It should have taken that position from the start.”
Democrat Moon Hak-jin, who sits on the Foreign Affairs, Trade and Unification Committee, said it “looks like the administration and ruling party have finally come to their senses.”
Ratification “should be dealt with in a composed manner while watching the situation in the U.S.,” said Moon.
