Election Politics Cloud KORUS FTA Ratification
By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter
Nine months ago, the Roh Moo-hyun administration sealed the free trade agreement (FTA) talks with the United States after declaring initial willingness toward the accord in February 2006.
Apart from heated debates of pros and cons on the deal with the world's largest economy, a pending issue is whether the National Assembly will pass the motion on the Korea-U.S. FTA to ratify before Roh's term ends on Feb. 25.
It is speculated that at least half of the 299 legislature are supporting the negotiation results. But the point is that some members of the governing United New Democratic Party (UNDP) members are calling for voting on the motion after the April 9 general elections.
Experts say the UNDP, which has 141 seats, are alert to the scenario in which they will fail to secure more votes from mid and low-income earners by approving the FTA which is considered to restructure peoples' living conditions.
``Because of the general elections, parliamentary ratification is continuously being delayed,'' Chung Tae-ik, a professor of the University of North Korean Studies said. ``Ratification in the U.S. also faced hurdles due to the 2008 presidential election.''
Chung said he believes the free trade deal with Washington is the best performance of the Roh government.
In contrast, Seoul National University prof. Baik Nak-chung evaluated the deal as a ``failure.''
He said, ``Amid the situation in which the U.S. Congress is indifferent to early ratification and Korean lawmakers also have not sufficiently reviewed the motion, I think President Roh and president-elect Lee Myung-bak who agreed to cooperate toward ratification in February deserve to be criticized.''
UNDP vice floor leader Im Jong-seok said, ``The parliamentary approval of the FTA could not be an issue to be promptly determined in accordance with pressure by the Bush administration.''
Na Kyung-won, the spokeswoman of the 128-member conservative Grand National Party (GNP), said that U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Alexander Vershbow is calling for the early ratification of the motion in Korea before the U.S. Congress does.
The progressive Democratic Labor Party (DLP), which has nine seats, is poised to desperately block the FTA bill to be submitted to the Assembly's plenary session in February.
The linkage between the FTA and elections is also seen in the United States where the 44th President will be elected in November 2008.
Bush's All-Out Pressure
Washington has ratification of their bilateral free trade deals with several countries on their minds as one of the main tasks for this year.
White House spokesperson Dana Perino said in her first news briefing this year that ratifying the FTAs with South Korea, Peru and Colombia are on the Bush administration's task list for 2008.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said ratification of the trade deal with Korea could get priority before other trade deals if issues involving U.S. beef imports are resolved.
The U.S. officials' statements have come after political experts prediction that the Korea-U.S. FTA will face major obstacles if the Democrats take power in the November presidential election.
As a result, the Bush administration is hastening to put pressure on the Congress and the Korean government, they noted.
Democrat senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama are both against the FTA with Korea. U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) argues the best thing would be for lawmakers in both countries to ratify the accord before the U.S. presidential election.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, leading presidential contender of the Democratic Party, has recently renewed her claim that the new FTA should be put on hold for a period of time. She asserted the signing of the North American FTA (NAFTA) has benefited only the rich people while decreasing jobs for workers.
She also expressed a negative viewpoint on the Korea-U.S., citing a lack of agreement in the area of automobiles and beef.
The Bush administration is insisting that Korea should approve the deal first to accelerate the move of the Congress, citing the difficulties in the U.S. It has urged President Roh and president-elect Lee.
Tami Overby, the CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AMCHAM), stressed that ratification of the KORUS free trade deal will signal a new dawn for Korea.
``Our efforts will focus on reiterating this message to the new government to ensure that the National Assembly and Congress recognizes the economic importance of ratifying the FTA without delay and Korea's full reopening of the beef market to U.S. beef,'' he said.
Beef Quarantine Rule
One certain thing despite various the uncertainties is that the Capitol Hill will not immediately follow a possible ratification by the National Assembly in February, unless the Korean government decide to import ``bone-containing'' U.S. beef.
Many American lawmakers as well as the U.S. Trade Representative have clarified that there will be ``no FTA'' without Korea's full opening of its beef market.
While Roh's spokesman Cheon Ho-seon continued to insist that the beef issue is irrelevant with the FTA talks, Washington has been repeatedly urging Seoul to ease quarantine rules for early approval.
Assistant USTR Wendy Cutler, who visited Seoul last October, claimed that easing the beef issue will satisfy the businessmen in the U.S. agricultural industry, consequently leading the congressional leaders, who have close ties with them, to change their minds toward approval.
She said the trade deal is significant to the U.S. and will bring economic, political and strategic benefits to both sides, adding, ``Let's not fixate on who goes first because the agreement only goes into effect when both sides ratify.''
In January 2006, Korea lifted a ban ― which was issued by concerns of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease in December 2003 ― on ``boneless'' U.S. meat from cattle less than 30 months old.
But repeated discoveries of bone fragments and ribs have triggered backlash from Korean consumers and civic groups.
In September 2007, a group of 68 lawmakers submitted to the National Assembly a resolution urging the government to impose a ban on imports of U.S. beef as early as possible.
The 68 include 28 lawmakers of the pro-government UNDP, 25 of the main opposition GNP and nine of the DLP.
``President Roh and the government should suspend the import of U.S. beef immediately,'' the resolution said. ``We have no choice but to raise suspicions if the government is exercising its `quarantine sovereignty' righteously.''
The legislators also said the U.S. is still feeding cattle bone meal, which could cause mad cow disease, while Japan and European countries are refraining from doing so.
In October, the government suspended quarantine inspections on U.S. beef after backbones were found twice in batches of shipments.
Last week, Hong Moon-pyo, a member of president-elect Lee's transition team instructed the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to push for ``on-the-spot inspection'' of the U.S. at meat processing companies in the country ― as a strengthening of quarantine rules.
Hong's instruction has brought about an interesting issue ― how the coming Lee administration, which vowed closer relations with Washington, will conclude the beef talks.
When the FTA talks faced a deadlock in late March 2007, Roh promised full opening of the beef market in his telephone talks with Bush and drew conclusion of the negotiation on April 2.