ED The price of delay

National Assembly should ratify ILO rules early

The trade row between the United States and China as well as Japan's economic retaliatory measures have overshadowed the Korean economy. There is another major downside risk ― possible trade friction with the European Union.

At the center of the problem with the EU is Korea's failure to ratify core conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO).

The EU asked Seoul recently to convene a panel of experts, asking it to quicken efforts to ratify the ILO rules. This is to see if the failure to ratify ILO rules in Korea violates the bilateral free trade deal.

Previously, the Korean government had consultations with the EU for three months to discuss this issue at the latter's request. The EU believes Korea is not fulfilling its obligation to ratify ILO conventions.

If the panel of experts is convened, this means the EU has entered the process of dispute settlement over the trade agreement with Korea. The panel may submit a report containing recommendations to Korea after gathering opinions from governments and international organizations for three months. The EU has signed a bilateral free trade agreement with more than 70 countries. Korea is the only country that has received a request for the establishment of an experts' panel.

Based on the Korea-EU FTA, Korea must ratify the labor conventions and overhaul related domestic laws accordingly. However, it has failed to do so mainly because of lack of cooperation from opposition parties. Korea must settle this problem as quickly as possible because, if the dispute with the EU drags on, it will tarnish Korea's reputation seriously, not to mention result in possible trade sanctions from the EU.

Even if the panel's report is released, the EU cannot impose direct trade sanctions, but it can prompt non-tariff sanctions such as strengthening customs clearance.

The Moon Jae-in administration has maintained a position that the National Assembly's ratification of the ILO conventions should be based on “social consensus.” Most of all, businesses should be ready to accept toughed labor rules. And then opposition parties should be more open to dialogue with the Moon government to resolve the issue.

However, the political dialogue has remained deadlocked.

With a view to ratifying the ILO conventions after “social dialogue,” the Presidential Economic, Social and Labor Council has gathered opinions from labor and management as well as political parties for a long time. However, it failed to reach a consensus largely due to unfavorable views from management and conservative parties.

The National Assembly should begin negotiations to ratify the ILO conventions quickly before it is too late. However, the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) is still negative on negotiating the issue with the administration and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, repeating allegations that the liberal government is only acting in the best interests of the labor sector without considering the difficulties of management.

When the Ministry of Employment and Labor announced in May that it would speed up efforts to ensure quick ratification of the ILO conventions and revision of domestic laws, the LKP criticized the government for going its own way without making efforts to persuade opponents.

The LKP should be more open to seeking compromise for early ratification of the ILO conventions. The administration itself should stop passing the blame on to opponents and reach out to them.