Rival parties set to clash over US FTA

GNP gearing up to pass free trade motion this week

By Chung Min-uck

The government, ruling Grand National Party (GNP) and main opposition Democratic Party (DP) Sunday failed to settle a dispute on the passage of the contentious Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (KORUS FTA) following the DP’s boycott of a three-way meeting.

The failure has sparked concern of a possible physical confrontation today at the general meeting of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs, Trade and Unification Committee.

“The ISD (investor-state dispute) clause is the worst out of all poison pills,” Rep. Chung Dong-young, a DP Supreme Council member, said Sunday. “It is doubtful that the discussion would be serious and sincere given the fact that the government and the ruling party had set a deadline to pass the FTA by Monday.”

The ISD provision grants investors the right to file suits against foreign governments under international law, which the DP claims could incapacitate the Korean government’s policies imposed on U.S. investors.

Rep. Nam Kyung-pil of the GNP who chairs the foreign affairs committee condemned the DP’s move.

“The DP can’t have its own way without any concern for the people and the National Assembly,” said Nam. “If the DP really thinks it can renegotiate the agreement, ratify the bill now and renegotiate with the United States if the DP becomes the ruling party in next year’s general elections.”

Observers say a physical altercation on the issue is inevitable as the DP, in search for renegotiation with the United States, is showing no signs of backing down from the presidential office and the government’s official call on the GNP to pass the bill at today’s parliamentary session.

The GNP is in control of 168 out of 295 seats in the unicameral legislature, which gives it the power to unilaterally pass the trade bill. It is poised to approve the long-stalled trade pact at the foreign affairs committee today.

Government officials including Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon and members of the GNP and DP had originally planned to debate the ISD issue at the National Assembly on Sunday.

After losing ground in the Seoul mayoral by-election last Wednesday, failing to even field a candidate, the main opposition party has drastically changed its stance from adopting relief measures for the sectors that would be adversely affected by the pact to the overall revision of the KORUS FTA. The former only needs the enactment of new domestic laws, while the latter represented by the ISD provision needs additional renegotiation with the United States, which would further delay the ratification. Experts say that the DP aims to overcome its crisis on the domestic political scene by taking a firm stand on the issue.

On Friday, five opposition parties including the DP pledged to stop the passage of the KORUS FTA and 14 related trade bills, currently tied up at their respective standing committees, by all means possible.

Prompted by U.S. Congress’s unusually swift passage of the bill earlier this month, the Lee Myung-bak administration and the GNP have been stepping up efforts to ratify the trade bill only to face fierce resistance from the opposition parties in request of renegotiation and relief measures. Since then the National Assembly has been brought to a virtual deadlock on the issue including the meeting of bipartisan floor leaders Sunday.

Little progress has been made so far.

On Wednesday, Nam chaired a meeting of the Assembly’s Foreign Affairs, Trade and Unification Committee to approve a bill that would give the parliament the authority to oversee procedures for signing and implementing trade pacts. The law is one of the three preconditions that the DP has been demanding.

The members of the DP and four other opposition parties plan to hold a joint meeting today to discuss ways of blocking the possible railroading of the KORUS FTA by the governing party.

The GNP is set to pass the trade bill at the parliamentary plenary session Thursday. Observers say the ongoing conflict between the two opposing sides would further worsen public sentiment toward partisan politics.