Unfinished Trade Talks

Seoul Should Firmly Deal With Revisiting KORUS FTA

The new U.S. trade policy emphasizing labor and environmental standards appears likely to reopen part of the free trade agreement (FTA) with Korea, too. Seoul, which had been bent on only winning the National Assembly's ratification of the concluded deal, was caught off guard once again. Officials have reiterated there would be no renegotiations of the finished deal ``in principle.'' As we have seen so many times before, however, what determines international bargaining is not principle but national power.

Washington has yet to formally request renegotiation or additional bargaining. But the U.S. congressional leaders have made it clear that their bipartisan trade compromise could also affect the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement. From a commonsense point of view, the U.S. move goes against the principle of international negotiations. If the two countries wrapped up a deal, that should be the end of the talks. Even in domestic law enforcement, there is the principle of not reopening a settled case.

Nor is the U.S. proposal justifiable in view of America's track record in the two sectors. Washington has signed on only two of the five labor standards it seeks to apply on trade partners. The situation is even worse for the environment: The Bush administration has only to ask itself why the Kyoto Protocol of restricting greenhouse gases has been only applied in name so far. Stricter standards in labor and the environment should be welcome _ unless applied selectively only when they serve U.S. interests.

If Korean lawmakers came up with a bipartisan accord for revising part of the KORUS FTA they dislike, would Washington accept it? Come to think of it, the U.S. trade promotion authority itself is an ``arbitrary'' device to foreigners' eyes, which becomes extendable or not depending on U.S. interests and circumstances. If Washington takes up labor and environmental issues as its pretext, it should limit the discussion only to the two areas and apply exactly the same standards on both sides.

Seoul should not repeat the past follies of sticking to principles _ or pretending to do so _ only to bow to U.S. demands at the final moment. So, if reopening part of the accord is deemed inevitable, officials should acknowledge this and begin to prepare for it. Labor and the environment are the two areas few countries can oppose to enhance their standards of living and industry. For some civic and interest groups, it could even be a blessing in disguise if properly handled.

We would like to take note of the chief Korean negotiator's remarks stressing that there should be little changes in the ``overall balance'' of the concluded deal. This requires Korea to conduct an open, national debate as the U.S. does, instead of adhering to a secretive process involving only a handful of related officials.