Thanks to the trade minister

By Oh Young-jin

I have a bad old habit of leaving the television on when I go to sleep.

Thanks to Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon, I am about to go cold turkey.

I will fill you in.

Twice last week, I woke up after midnight to see Kim on late-night television discussion programs.

I still wonder what woke me up. Was it the 58-year-old top trade negotiator’s crooning voice that became hysterical? One thing that was certain, on both occasions, I found he was talking in a panel discussions of four ― two supporters and two critics. When I tired of watching him, I changed channels but only to find that he was still talking when I clicked back.

Even in the state of extreme drowsiness, I was pretty sure of the points he was trying to bring home but appeared irritated in the face of a barrage of criticisms about the free trade deal with the United States he had just made in Washington.

First, I understand that Kim’s deal might not be the best Korea could expect but, as he said in one of the discussion programs, it could be the next best thing. Of course, by the rules of the zero sum game, Korea has more to lose than gain from the deal. President Obama made that point clear by speaking profusely of the benefits his country will see from the deal.

As the result of his deal, tariffs on made-in-Korea cars will be kept for the next five years rather than an immediate removal for cars with engine displacement over three liters and the phased abolition on those below three liters, as agreed in the 2007 settlement of the KORUS FTA.

Also tariffs on Korean trucks will remain at the current level of 25 percent rather than the original agreement of an annual 2.5-percent reduction over 10 years. Also the U.S. will be able to take safeguard measures to slap special tariffs on Korean cars for 15 years, in the event that Washington sees what it judges to be a sharp increase in the imported cars that seriously affects U.S. carmakers.

In return, Korea received some concessions in pharmaceutical and agricultural areas.

By a one-to-one comparison, it may look as if it is an unfair deal to Korea but, considering other factors such as Korea’s lopsided surplus in car trade or security assurances the U.S. offers, the calculations will change and the expected losses can be acceptable.

Korea is an export-oriented nation so a bilateral free trade pact with the U.S., still the biggest market in the world, should be taken as a morale booster to Korean corps of exporters and will help the government shift its focus to other new, emerging priorities. For that, President Lee Myung-bak, a free marketer and himself former leader of a big export firm, should give Kim a promotion.

I also can understand why Kim has been so frustrated. Simply put, he may as well think of himself as a student who is chided for the best job he has done for all other classmates. During his TV appearance, he showed a hint of disdain for his critics, displaying an attitude only possible from someone who tries hard to suppress his urge to say, “Shut up! What do you know, not being there as I did?”

So why can’t Kim convince the public of the benefits of his FTA deal? Is it just pure politics? Yes and no.

But I believe one reason may be, ironically, his oft-winning negotiation tactic of brinksmanship. He repeatedly talked with a straight face in public of his plan not to change a word in the 2007 original agreement but came back with a deal that will entail such significant changes as to require new consent at the National Assembly. In political terms, he adjusted to a changing set of circumstances but, in layman’s term, he lied. And he appears unapologetic.

Looking back at the twists and turns that occurred in the lead-up to what Kim prefers to call a supplementary agreement, I feel like giving him the benefit of the doubt, accepting his assertions that he lied in order to show his position was final so the U.S. would yield.

But what upsets me and, I am sure, there are others like me, is the sense of superiority he exhibits, that he knows better than the public, enabling him to speak contrary to the facts, apparently when he knew that he couldn’t stick to his stance. Now, he is telling us that it was in our best interests.

Kim’s attitude somewhat reinforces allegations that the current government is arrogant. It is pushing against a great deal of public resistance for the restoration of the nation’s four largest rivers, failing to learn from the fiasco in its attempt to nix the plan of building an administrative city. The KORUS FTA runs the risk of becoming another example by which this government is taking the people lightly, even if it is passed.

Politics should be an art that reconciles conflicting interests, not a rudimentary science in which a given set of rules should be adhered to under any circumstances. Kim was once an artist in negotiation but is now turning into a scientist who is tempted to insist that his rule should be absolute and beyond reproach. I hope he will overcome that temptation.

In the meantime, I can find one benefit in his appearances in the televised discussion circuit. I am switching my TV off when I go to bed. That saves our energy-starved nation electricity, however little it may be, and spares me a lecture from my wife. I am ready to thank Minister Kim for that.