The UDP and the FTA

Back in Seoul following his summit with the U.S. President, Korean President Lee is calling for a special session of the National Assembly in May to ratify the trade agreement: Lee urges parliament to approve KORUS FTA in May (Korea.net, April 22).  Assembly elections were just held on April 9, and Lee's party won a majority in the new Assembly.  But that Assembly won't meet until June.

The current Assembly is dominated by the center-left United Democratic Party (UDP).  Some of its members favor the deal, others are less than enthusiastic, and still others are opposed.  This story says a majority are opposed: UDP Leader Blames Party Members Over KORUS FTA (Dong-a Ilbo, April 21).

Some UDP members are leading opposition to the Lee Administration's recent agreement to reopen the Korean market to U.S. beef.  UDP Lambastes Beef Deal (Chosun Ilbo, April 22).

The United Democratic Party on Monday slammed a Korea-U.S. agreement last Friday to open the market here to most American beef imports. UDP floor leader Kim Hyo-seuk said it was "not the outcome of a negotiation, but an act of giving away our rights to life and to sovereignty over quarantine to make (the U.S.) a political present ahead of the Korea-U.S. summit." He pledged to hold a public hearing during an extra session of the National Assembly in April “to distinguish between right and wrong over how the government decided to open the beef market to the U.S."

Kim Yon-se also points to a UDP focus on the beef decision: American Beef Deal Corners President Lee (Korea Times, April 22):

The main opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) held a series of meetings with livestock organizations and farming representatives.

They denounced Lee for having described U.S. beef as high-quality and low-priced and for calling Korean beef the most expensive product in the world.

``There are also low-priced and high-quality beef in Korea,'' a farming representative said. ``As the government neglects Korean products and Korean consumers, it has agreed to import U.S. beef with risks of mad cow disease.''

Choi In-kee, chief policymaker of the UDP, demanded the government scrap the decision of full market opening.

More and more UDP lawmakers are participating in a move to boycott the ratification of the Korea-U.S. FTA.