Korea-U.S. FTA

Fighting the FTA in the National Assembly

Lawmakers from several National Assembly opposition parties have formed an emergency committee to oppose the trade agreement: Opposition lawmakers fight FTA ratification:

Pressure the U.S. by signing with the E.U.

Suh Jin-kyo, Director of trade and investment policy at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, says Korea should complete its trade agreement negotiations with the E.U. to put pressure on the U.S. (Proposal Made to Implement FTA With EU Ahead of US):

Compromise in Korea?

Korean President Lee Myung-bak is still hoping to see the trade agreement ratified this year: Lee Firm on Ratification of U.S. FTA This Year.  But he's looking for ways to address some opposition party concerns:

Sounds like the GNP is backing off

Yonhap: S Korean Ruling Party Backtracks Over Early US Fta Ratification

Early passage of a free trade pact with the United States looked increasingly unlikely here Wednesday as the ruling party slackened its push in the face of a chorus of opposition from rival parties.

Roh comes out in favor of renegotiation

The trade agreement was negotiated by Former South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun.  Roh has just published an article calling for renegotiation: Roh comes out in support of FTA renegotiation; Roh shifts stance on Korea-U.S. FTA; Roh should keep out of the FTA debate.

Is National Assembly FTA action imminent? Or not?

On Monday: National Assembly to Mull Korea-U.S. FTA:

The ruling Grand National Party on Monday decided to submit a motion for ratification of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement to the National Assembly Foreign Affairs, Trade and Unification Committee as soon as the committee finishes a public hearing on the FTA deal on Wednesday. The two sides of the house are therefore expected to clash, as the main opposition Democratic Party has already said it will block the motion.

The Grand National Party (GNP) has 172 of the 299 seats in the unicameral national legislature).

But on Tuesday: GNP Rules out railroading FTA ratification:

The governing Grand National Party (GNP) stepped back Tuesday from its plan to pass the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (KORUS FTA) unilaterally, vowing to make further efforts in drawing bipartisan consensus for the ratification.

The Korea-U.S. FTA Task Force

The government and the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) have followed up on their decision Friday to push forward with the FTA, and created a "Korea-U.S. FTA Task Force." 

The purpose appears to be to coordinate efforts for ratification in the National Assembly in November, and to lobby for ratification this year in the U.S.: GNP Pushes for Korea-U.S. FTA Ratification Within This Year:

Why don't U.S. cars sell well in Korea?

 

Ford Taurus in a Korean Ad.  Source: TheCarBlogger

Because they're seen as clunky, with low gas mileage, says the head of Chrysler Korea:  S. Koreans Shun U.S. Cars on Gas-Guzzling Image:

American cars aren't selling well in South Korea due to consumer perception of U.S. vehicles as clunky and having poor gas mileage, the head of Chrysler LLC's local unit said Tuesday.

U.S. automakers such as Chrysler and General Motors Corp. are lagging far behind Japanese and German rivals in sales in the nation's booming market for imported vehicles.

Sales of imported cars in South Korea are expected to grow more than 20 per cent from a year earlier to 60,000 units this year, but no U.S. models have taken the top-10 sales ranking here.

South Korean consumers have "negative perceptions that U.S. cars are sizable, but have poor fuel-economy," said Ahn Young-seok, the country manager of Chrysler Korea, at a press conference to launch sales of a mid-size sedan Sebring.

To boost sales in South Korea, "The most urgent task is to change those perceptions, but it's difficult to resolve the issue in the short term," Ahn said.

Koreans to move on trade agreement with U.S.

On Friday the Korean government and the governing party are going to move forward to ratify the trade agreement in order to make renegotiation harder: FTA ratification back on table.

The administration and ruling party decided October 31 that they are going to move towards an early ratification of the free trade agreement with the United States, meaning many will be watching to see whether a ratification bill passes the current National Assembly session.

The decision came at a high-level government-ruling party policy coordination meeting held at the prime minister’s office that was attended, among others, by Grand National Party Chairman Park Hee-tae, Prime Minister Han Seung-soo, and President Lee Myung-bak’s chief-of-staff, Chung Chung-kil.

“The government and ruling party have decided to have the FTA with the U.S. passed as quickly as possible under agreement with the ruling and opposition parties,” said GNP spokesman Yoon Sang-hyun. “It was decided that a government-ruling party task force would be formed to respond to the matter swiftly and in a systematic fashion in a working-level situation.”

I don't know what the expression "agreement with the ruling and opposition parties" means.  Does it refer to a procedural agreement to bring the bill up for a vote, that both parties are agreed that the bill needs to be passed?

This short story focuses on the reasons for moving forward (Gov't, GNP seek to Ratify FTA This Year):

If Democratic Senator Barack Obama wins the race for the White House on Tuesday, Washington could ask to renegotiate the agreement, a scenario which concerns Seoul.

The government believes a swift ratification of the current deal could help to block any changes the next U.S. administration might try to propose.

Earlier in the week a representative of the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade had urged the National Assembly to ratify the agreement to put pressure on the U.S. (Foreign Ministry Calls for Speedy Ratification of Korea-U.S. FTA ):

...Deputy Trade Minister Ahn Ho-young stressed the need for swift ratification of the FTA in order to encourage the U.S. to follow suit.

Back to the first of these stories (FTA ratification back on table):   The story goes on to suggest that there is general agreement on the need for the trade agreement, but disagreement on preconditions for passage:

GNP members who are less than enthusiastic about passing a ratification bill within the next two months are not considered party heavyweights, however, and their voices are not expected to influence the agreement arrived at by the administration and the GNP.

The Democratic Party agrees in principle on the need to ratify the Korea-U.S. FTA, but wants the agreement approached in stages, with preparations made for an open market with the United States before the trade pact is ratified. It wants to see the government first do something for those who will suffer as a result of the deal -- people like farmers. Democrats say it would not be too late to ratify the pact after seeing which way the U.S. presidential election turns, and look over what the advantages and disadvantages of the FTA would be at that point.

The ruling and opposition parties do generally agree on the need to pass the FTA. But major differences about what to do about those who would be affected, and with the National Assembly’s plate already full as it is with the 2009 national budget and the GNP proposing many bills that would “turn the clock back to the past,” it does not look like navigating the discussion is going to go smoothly.

I'm surprised by the assertion that both the ruling and opposition parties tend to support the agreement.  That sort of unanimity has been missing in the past and this editorial from The Korean Times suggests there are still different points of view Impatient Free Traders.

Revised November 2, 2008.