The Financial Editor of the Korea Times Deploys a 7th Century Korean General Against House Democrats

Here is the editorial: A Poetic Approach to FTA (Cho Jae-hyon, Korea Times, July 4).

Here is commentary by Robert Koehler: When the FTA Meets the Battle of Salsu (The Marmot's Hole, July 5) and Andrew Leonard: A lesson in 7th century history for Nancy Pelosi (How the World Works (Salon), July 5).

Recall that House Democrats say the Korea-U.S. FTA is going nowhere (June 30).  Cho Jae-Hyon recalls the destruction, by Koreans, of an invading Chinese army in 612, and advises:

Free trade is a war of goods and services between companies. As U.S. automakers and beef producers are unhappy with the deal, so are many Korean farmers and companies.

As Gen. Eulji's poem implies, Democrat commanders need to be content with what has been crafted by their shrewd negotiators. If they seek to rewrite provisions of the deal or undo it, the consequences might be too costly for both countries to shoulder.