SOUTH KOREA BALKS AT POSSIBLE RENEGOTIATION OF US FTA
South Korea reacted strongly to suggestions that its pending free trade agreement (FTA) with the US might require renegotiation following a recent deal between the Bush administration and Democrats promising new environmental, labour, and intellectual property standards in all such accords.
"If the US demands renegotiation it would lead to a failure of the agreement," Ambassador Kim Jong-hoon, South Korea’s chief negotiator, told the Yonhap News Agency. "We couldn’t one-sidedly accept a request to renegotiate the agreement that already reflects the balance of interests," he said.
Under the terms of their pact with the White House, senior Democratic lawmakers established a new template for FTAs, which would have them include some core International Labour Organization worker protection standards as well as seven multilateral environmental agreements. They promised to seek Congressional approval of the already-negotiated FTAs with Peru and Panama if they were modified to comply with the new policy. South Korea was specifically excluded from the bargain, with Democrats urging the Bush administration to seek greater access to the Korean market, particularly with regard to automotive, agricultural, and services trade (see BRIDGES Weekly, 16 May 2007).
Nevertheless, South Korea’s minister for foreign affairs and trade, Song Min-soon, told reporters last week that Seoul would "maintain a firm stance that this is not something that needs to be renegotiated." It is not clear whether the FTA will win US Congressional approval without modifications.
South Korea and the US concluded FTA talks on 1 April, following 10 months of intense negotiations that were marked by civil society opposition in both countries (see BRIDGES Weekly, 4 April 2007). An FTA with Korea, the world’s tenth-largest economy, would represent the US’s biggest trade agreement since the establishment of the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico in 1994.
ICTSD reporting; "S. Korea warns against possible U.S. demand for trade deal renegotiation," THE HANKYOREH, 16 May 2007; "South Korea warns U.S. free trade deal could collapse if Washington demands renegotiation," YONHAP NEWS, 16 May 2007.