Korea-U.S. FTA

Mid-January, 2009

In early January the standoff over the occupation of the National Assembly was resolved by an agreement that included a provision to postpone consideration of the trade agreement: FTA consideration deferred.

Korean Exports Plummet

Brad Setser summarizes recent Korean export statistics: This really doesn't look good:

Microsoft likes KORUS FTA

Yonhap News reports that Microsoft has released a policy paper endorsing the trade agreement with Korea: Microsoft urges Obama to help approve Korea FTA:

Beef progress

U.S. beef has been making progress in the Korean marketplace.  Troy Stangarone reports (Sales of U.S. beef take off as it goes mainstream):

FTA consideration deferred

With the end of the opposition occupation of the National Assembly chambers, the different parties have negotiated a schedule for voting on 85 bills: Lawmakers end Assembly standoff:

A timetable was agreed upon by floor leaders from the Grand National Party, the Democratic Party and an alliance of the Liberty Forward and Creative Korea parties yesterday evening, but votes on hotly contested bills were largely postponed to a February session or no deadline was set...

Of the list of 85 urgent bills that the GNP wanted to push through, negotiators agreed that 58 less-sensitive measures should be deliberated and voted on before the end of the current session...

The current Assembly session ends on January 8.  The trade agreement bill was left for some indefinite date after Obama's inauguration.  

The opposition occupation of the Assembly chambers was an effective parliamentary maneuver, forcing a revision of the majority's legislative timetable.

Troy Stangarone of the Korea Economic Institute summarizes the events of the last couple of weeks (Melee Breaks Out in National Assembly over KORUS FTA):

Sit-in ends; FTA deferred

Opposition legislators have traded their occupation of the National Assembly for an agreement by the majority Grand National Party to defer consideration of the trade agreement with the U.S.: South Korea Opposition Ends Occupation of Parliament.

Security tried repeatedly, and unsuccessfully, over the weekend to force the protesting legislators to leave the hall: SKorean parliament clashes leave dozens injured: officials:

About 150 unarmed security guards, acting on the speaker's order, have intermittently attempted to break up the sit-in since Saturday. Some protesters were frogmarched out but most others remained in place by linking arms.

The scuffles inside the National Assembly building have left 53 security guards injured while one of the DP lawmakers had an arm injury, officials said.