Prospects for ratification of Korea-US FTA shrouded in doubt
JoongAng Daily | February 25, 2009
Prospects for ratification of Korea-U.S. FTA shrouded in doubt
By Seo Ji-eun Staff Reporter
More than a year and a half since Korea and the United States signed a free trade agreement, the deal is still pending.
Now attention is focusing on whether the two countries’ legislatures can approve the agreement to mark the one-year anniversary of Korea’s Lee Myung-bak administration and the launch of the new Barack Obama administration in the U.S.
As the National Assembly’s extraordinary session draws to a close, Korea’s ruling Grand National Party is seeking to ratify a free trade agreement with the United States, while the main opposition Democratic Party is arguing that discussions of the deal should be delayed.
Yesterday GNP chairman Park Hee-tae, as well as heads of six business lobby groups, urged the Democratic Party to cease its push for a delay. The DP’s predecessor was the governing party during the administration of former President Roh Moo-hyun, when the FTA negotiations with the U.S. concluded, but the business-friendly GNP has taken over the job of pushing forward ratification.
Roh wanted to settle the affair before leaving office, but to no avail.
“I don’t believe the U.S. will come up with a renegotiation card. If Korea ratifies the deal as a sovereign country, its global confidence will be improved and, accordingly, we will eventually be able to persuade our U.S. counterpart,” Hwang Jin-ha, a GNP lawmaker, said.
The Bush administration did not bring the free trade agreement before Congress due to the political sensitivity of the election year.
The deal, if ratified, will be the biggest for the United States since the North American Free Trade Agreement in the early 1990s. Until it was officially launched earlier this month, it was widely anticipated that the Obama administration would request renegotiations on the free trade agreement, signed on June 30, 2007, mainly to ensure that U.S. cars gain wider access to Korean markets.
During his presidential campaign, Obama complained that the accord was “badly flawed,” citing a wide imbalance in automobile trade.
However, Korean trade officials have ruled out renegotiations and expressed hopes that the new U.S. government will support the deal. Korea’s chief free trade negotiator Lee Hye-min said in a press briefing last week, “there will be no renegotiation,” stressing that the U.S. automobile industry is “far from being export-reliant.”
Experts say Korea should stick to the “principle.” “Some argue that we might be humiliated if the United States requests renegotiations after we ratify the FTA first. But from a strategic point of view, the ratification from our side in advance will definitely impose pressure on the Obama administration,” said Park Nohyoung, professor of law at Korea University.
“Any administration would have no choice but to take a more realistic stance after it takes office,” he added.
The first summit between President Lee and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama is scheduled for no later than April, when they participate in the G-20 meeting in London, according to the Blue House.
Meanwhile, Korea is nearing the completion of a free trade agreement with the European Union after ministerial talks in Seoul late last month. Trade ministers from both parties agreed to hold an eighth round of negotiations in the first week of March, here.
Seoul wants to finalize the trade pact with the EU in the first quarter of this year and implement it early next year to tap into the 27-nation economic bloc, Korea’s second-largest trading partner next to China.
With Australia and New Zealand, President Lee is scheduled to declare the start of formal talks for bilateral free trade agreements during visits next month.
