Court: free trade draft stays under wraps
The Hankyoreh | 3 February 2007
Court: free trade draft stays under wraps
Ruling says disclosure will harm ongoing S.K.-U.S. negotiations
A South Korean court ruled that the government is not required to disclose a current draft of the proposed South Korea-U.S. free trade agreement. The suit was brought by two lawmakers of the minority opposition Democratic Labor Party, Representatives Kang Ki-kab and Kwon Young-ghil.
In a ruling on February 2, the Seoul Administrative Court said that if the draft-stage agreement is disclosed, it could give other nations leverage in future trade negotiations with South Korea. The court also said that the disclosure would strongly raise "the possibility of a conflict of interest between South Korea and the U.S." The court added that it is in the nation’s interest to keep the documents classified, because this will give South Korea credibilty in the eyes of the international comunity.
The court said it is desirable to maintain a non-disclosure agreement during a bilateral trade negotiation. In addition, if the draft is disclosed, the court said, the negotiations could collapse because stakeholders that might be affected by its terms would begin to lobby negotiators to amend the draft or change their negotiating strategy.
In response, Representative Kwon said that the ruling is dissapointing. "It gives the ground for closed-door negotiations that hinder the people’s right to know, and blocks the negotiations from being controlled based on democracy," he added.
