With a trade pact with the United States re-emerging as a hot political issue ahead of April's general elections, about half of Koreans were negative about the opposition's pledge to scrap the deal, a recent survey showed Thursday.
According to the survey of 3,521 adults nationwide conducted on Monday by the Yeouido Institute, the ruling Saenuri Party's think tank, 50.5 percent said scrapping the U.S. FTA as pledged by the opposition party would damage the interests of Korea, while 33.2 percent said nullification of the pact would be more beneficial to the nation.
The poll was conducted after the Saenuri Party's leader Park Geun-hye lashed out strongly at the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) over its campaign promise to scrap the trade deal.
The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.65 percentage points.
Regarding the opposition's promise to repeal the trade accord through changing the power in this year's elections, 47.9 percent saw its move as inappropriate, slightly more than the 44.5 percent who supported the party.
More than half of those surveyed were negative about the DUP changing its stance on the FTA under the Lee Myung-bak administration, while 37.4 percent were in support of it.
Late President Roh Moo-hyun signed the deal in 2007 and his Cabinet members persuaded lawmakers and the people that the trade pact would help the nation's export-driven economy. Among them was then Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook, who now leads the DUP with promises to scrap the deal if liberals gain the legislative majority in April and the presidency in December.
The Lee administration renegotiated the pact, focusing mainly on the auto industry, with its American counterpart in December 2010, which was approved by the ruling party-controlled parliament in November despite strong objection from opposition parties.
The center-left party's move is seen as an apparent attempt to woo core liberal voters before the elections as they argue the deal will only benefit the nation's large conglomerates and worsen the economic inequality between the rich and poor.
Studies by the nation's think tanks predicted the deal would benefit the Asian powerhouse's technology and auto industries, while making its agricultural and fisheries sectors ebb away due to cheaper imported products in the long term.
Two-way trade between South Korea and the U.S. reached some $90 billion in 2010, according to the Seoul government. (Yonhap)
