By Kim Young-jin
North Korea kept up its assault Thursday on South Korea’s ruling Grand National Party (GNP) for railroading a free trade agreement with the United States, in line with its ongoing campaign to exacerbate social tensions here.
The predictable reaction comes after the GNP, which has icy ties with the North, drew a backlash after it passed the pact during a contentious Tuesday session that included an opposing lawmaker setting off a tear gas canister.
The North’s official website, Uriminzokkiri (between our people) sought to link the railroading to ongoing frustration here over partisan politics, corruption and a growing wealth divide.
The GNP "thrust their intention to hand over the South’s economy for the U.S. to prey on,” the website said in a piece titled “A planned coup in the parliament.”
A separate editorial added: "The U.S. had the last word on the KORUS FTA with the intention of controlling the South Korean military, politics and economy."
Analysts say the North is increasing its campaign to manipulate South Korean public opinion through its state-controlled media by slamming the conservative camp ahead of parliamentary and presidential elections next year. Its goal, they say, is to usher in leadership that will provide more aid to the impoverished country.
Tensions have been high since President Lee Myung-bak entered office with a tough line that linked massive aid to efforts by the North to denuclearize. Ties worsened after Pyongyang waged two deadly attacks against the South last year
The FTA, signed in 2007, passed in a 151-7 vote with 12 abstentions.
Further bonding the world’s largest and 12th largest economies, the pact is expected to create jobs, expand exports and boost the local automotive, IT and other industries. But opponents here worry it will hit farmers and small business owners hard.
Though the Kim Jong-il regime likely needed no further encouragement to attack it, the FTA for now offers no benefit to North Korea, despite some concerns that goods from the inter-Korean Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC) could make their way to the United States.
Analysis of the FTA and U.S. sanctions on the North shows that its preferential terms do not apply to finished goods made at the GIC and that Washington has plenty of opportunity to block a move by any South Korean government to bring such goods into the agreement.
The trade deal also has provisions to help preserve Washington’s ability to keep its restrictions on imports of North Korean goods and components.
However, experts point out that as North Korean manufacturers become more involved in the global economy, the more difficult it will become to prevent unreported goods or components originating there from entering the United States without authorization.