A Poetic Approach to FTA

By Cho Jae-hyon
Finance Editor

The first half of this year saw the South Korean movie industry caught in the web of Spider-Man and savagely looted by Pirates of the Caribbean. Both blockbusters dominated the box-office, gobbling up the competition.

In fact, the cumulative total this year for Korea's movie market fell to 45 percent, down 15 percent from last year's earnings. This cleared the way, allowing Hollywood movies to step in and carve out a larger stake, shooting to 48 percent from 37 percent. The looming effects are proving to be so disastrous that May alone saw domestic movies plunge below 30 percent, according to the Korean Film Council.

A few avoided defeat such as ``The Host'' and several others, making big splashes last year. However, this year they were submerged under water and are showing little signs of resurfacing.

Filmmakers fear that they might lose more moviegoers to Hollywood blockbusters when the free trade agreement signed between the U.S. and Korean governments at the end of June takes effect. Once ratified by both legislative parties, the free trade deal would provide fresh leverage for U.S.-made films to further expand their dominance here.

This year's poor performance sends an ominous sign to the Korean film industry. Moviemakers' fears about the FTA may soon ring true.

Unfair to Whom?

From another vantage point, the Korean auto sector is regarded as one of major beneficiaries of the deal as it will have greater access to the U.S. market. However, the labor union at Hyundai Motor staged a partial strike in protest of the trade pact, braving harsh criticism from the public. The union, with a dearth of cause for the strike, witnessed even its very own members split over the strike, an indication that the deal is a trigger of conflicts stemming from numerous quarters.

Korea signed an amended FTA with the U.S. last Saturday, wrapping up the government-level negotiation process that started in February last year. However, the chance of getting Congress ratification is uncertain at best. The Democrats show no signs of quieting their dissatisfaction, having made it quite clear that they will not support the pact as currently negotiated.

It's not a sacred cow and it's been under fire. Bush administration officials say the pact tackles barriers that have blocked U.S. car exports and removes Korean tariffs on a number of U.S. cars and trucks.
Democrats complain that it opens the U.S. market to more South Korean cars while Seoul will still be able to keep its markets protectively sealed.

Top Democrats including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and leading presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York have stated opposition to the deal because of its auto provisions. Earlier in June of this year, Clinton told a gathering in Detroit, home of the U.S. car industry, that she believes the FTA is ``inherently unfair.''

It's difficult to determine to what extent Democrat leaders are against the deal. Every deal cannot completely satisfy both sides. Just like the Korean farming and film industries, some have to bleed in the course toward free trade.

To strike any deal, what is important is to know when to retreat. One can only interpret that the Korean negotiation team has taken one step backward, accepting U.S. demands in additional talks.

Battle of Salsu

On March 12, 2007, just several weeks before Korea and the U.S. reached an agreement, Korea's agriculture negotiators handed out an ancient poem to their U.S. counterparts.

It's a poem originally written by General Eulji Mundeok of Goguryeo Kingdom to a commander of China's Sui Dynasty in 612.

The Sui Emperor Yangdi invaded Goguryeo with a million-strong soldiers. After defending fortresses against the Sui army and navy for several months, Gen. Eulji misled the Sui's army to chase them across Salsu (Chongchon River in North Korea).

After Sui's soldiers crossed the river, Gen. Eulji moved all food and crops into Pyongyang Fortress and plugged all wells outside the fortress. When Sui's army was running out of food and water, General Eulji sent the poem to Sui's general Yu Zhongwen, calling for Yu to retreat.

While belatedly retreating from Salsu, Sui's troops were greeted by an ambush and suffered massive casualties, which led to an overall campaign loss of all but 2,700 out of 305,000 Sui soldiers. Goguryeo forces, although outnumbered, overwhelmed the Sui troops and emerged victorious.

The poem reads as follows:

Heaven knows how marvelous you are in your strategy,

Earth knows how shrewd you are in your calculation,

Your name already knows no bounds in this war,

Time to know satisfaction in your toil.

This poem speaks volumes to Democrats.

Free trade is a war of goods and services between companies. As U.S. automakers and beef producers are unhappy with the deal, so are many Korean farmers and companies.

As Gen. Eulji's poem implies, Democrat commanders need to be content with what has been crafted by their shrewd negotiators. If they seek to rewrite provisions of the deal or undo it, the consequences might be too costly for both countries to shoulder.

chojh@koreatimes.co.kr