Assembly to vote on Korea-EU pact today

By Lee Tae-hoon

The National Assembly will convene a parliamentary plenary session today to ratify a free trade pact with the European Union, Rep. Park Jie-won of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) said Tuesday.

Rep. Park said he and other senior DP lawmakers agreed Monday to endorse the pending Korea-EU free trade agreement (FTA) after winning significant concessions from the government and the ruling Grand National Party (GNP).

He noted that the decision was reached after a meeting with representatives of the DP and GNP, along with Strategy and Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun, Knowledge Economy Minister Choi Joong-kyung and Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon.

“The negotiations weren’t easy, but they agreed to most of our party’s demands related to the agricultural sector and super supermarkets (SSMs),”he said.

Rep. Park pointed out that GNP floor leader Kim Moo-sung played a key role in persuading the government to accept the DP’s demands.

Rep. Kim acknowledged that his party had to make “many” concessions, but emphasized that "reaching an agreement on the ratification at the National Assembly is more significant."

Party officials said the government also agreed to negotiate with their EU counterparts to revise certain terms of the pact after the deal takes effect in July.

They said the DP and GNP reached a consensus to increase monetary compensation for farmers if they see prices of agricultural or dairy products drop over the first 10 years after the Korea-EU FTA takes effect.

Farmers will be eligible for compensation if prices fall below 85 percent of a reference price and they will receive up to 90 percent of their losses in compensation.

Under the current rule on such compensation, farmers become eligible if prices drop below 80 percent of the reference prices, and they may only be compensated for up to 80 percent of the losses.

The FTA with the EU will eliminate 98 percent of import duties and other trade barriers in manufactured goods, agricultural products and services between Korea and the EU within the next five years.

Last week, a parliamentary committee on foreign affairs and trade approved the ratification motion for the long-stalled trade pact.

The FTA bill, if approved in today’s floor session, will take effect July 1 as agreed upon by the two sides.

Parties have been divided over the size of government support measures for the country's agriculture sector expected to be negatively influenced by the FTA with the 27-member European economic block.

The fate of the FTA with the world’s largest trade block, however, remains uncertain as a large number of opposition lawmakers, even many within the DP, are vehemently against the pact.

Political watchers say the GNP, which controls a majority in the 299-member unicameral parliament with 172 seats may not ram through the deal for fears of a public backlash.

The free trade pact was agreed to last year and the European parliament approved it in February.