No end in sight for Korea-US FTA deadlock

By Lee Tae-hoon

Dark clouds are hovering over the prospect of ratifying the long-stalled free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States.

Further delays will be inevitable as five opposition parties pledged Friday to block the parliamentary passage of the trade bill, which they claim was revised more favorably to Washington in December last year.

“If the Lee Myung-bak administration pushes the ratification of the Korea-U.S. (KORUS) FTA during this parliamentary session, we will strongly fight it by all means and methods,” the five parties said in a joint statement.

Rep. Sohn Hak-kyu, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), and four other party leaders said that the government should renegotiate with Washington to remove certain poison pills from the FTA, such as the one concerning the investor-state dispute (ISD) system.

The ISD allows investors in each country to file suits against each other for possible unfair treatment. Critics fear that this clause could put smaller companies and local retailers at a great disadvantage.

“We should ask the opinions of the people in the next general election,” the DP leader said. “Simply put, this matter should be handled in the next National Assembly.”

He said that more time is required to discuss possible negative fallout of the ratification and come up with preventive measures.

The DP, however, hinted that his party would agree to endorse the bilateral pact if Washington holds a one-point negotiation with Seoul and agrees to remove the ISD clause.

The governing Grand National Party (GNP), which decided to keep pace with Washington in ratifying the trade pact, is now caught in a dilemma.

The GNP has repeatedly declared it will push the ratification of the KORUS FTA by Friday, but the party’s plan has lost much of its momentum after suffering a crushing defeat in Wednesday’s Seoul mayoral race,

On Oct. 13, the U.S. Congress ratified the KORUS FTA, which was first signed in 2007, prompting the GNP to make further efforts to clear the stalemate preventing the ratification of the bilateral trade pact.

GNP lawmakers have accused opposition parties of blocking the FTA for political gain, rather than for national interest.

“The DP expressed its willingness to even use physical force to block the ratification bill unless the ISD clause is removed, but it is important to note that it was the Uri Party, the DP’s predecessor, that agreed to the clause under the Roh Moo-hyun administration,” GNP spokesman Kim Ki-hyeon said.