By Cho Jin-seo
Leaked diplomatic cables on WikiLeaks showed that the governments of South Korean and the United States have been working in tandem to push ahead the free trade agreement despite opposition from U.S. business circles.
The Korean government even briefed the U.S. government on its plan to make President Lee Myung-bak take a tour of Korean factories in the United States as a public relations (PR) exercise, according to the messages.
The classified documents are apparently written by Kathleen Stephens, the U.S. ambassador in Seoul, and sent to Washington. They also revealed that the two countries were fighting against the European nations on core economic issues at the G20 meetings.
In a cable dated on Feb. 22, 2010, Stephens said that Kim Sung-hwan, the National Security Advisor to President Lee Myung-bak, briefed Kurt Campbell, U.S. assistant secretary of state, about the president’s PR events.
“Kim added that the ROK Embassy in Washington was working on a possible FTA event for President Lee during his upcoming trip to the United States for the nuclear summit,” said the message, which is signed off with the ambassador’s name. “One idea, Kim explained, was to have President Lee visit a Korean factory to help underscore to the American public that the FTA was about creating jobs in America as well as in Korea,” it said.
“It was the ROK government’s view, Kim said, that there might be a window of opportunity to pass KORUS immediately after the U.S. Congressional elections this fall,” it said.
The documents showed that the two governments shared views not only on political and security issues but also on domestic economic issues such as the FTA
In one account, Campbell praised Han Duck-soo, the Korean ambassador in Washington, for his efforts to advance the FTA while slamming his own country’s businessmen in that they needed to “stop being lazy” and help get the FTA through Congress, the message reads.
In an earlier cable sent in August 2009, Stephens, or someone claiming to be her, mentioned the sympathy the two presidents shared for each other.
“President Lee has faced criticism from his opponents for his inability to generate momentum for the Korea-U.S. (KORUS) FTA in Washington. President Obama’s statement at the April G20 meeting with Lee that the U.S. wanted to find a way forward on the KORUS FTA allayed some of the anxiety in Seoul, and enabled Lee to push the FTA through the committee of jurisdiction in Korea’s National Assembly in late April,” the message said.
She claimed that the FTA is critical for the United States in order to fight the growing Chinese influence in Korea.
“Successive ROK governments have seen the ratification and implementation of the KORUS FTA as symbolic of the U.S. will to remain fully engaged in Northeast Asia in the face of increasing Chinese influence.”
At the G20 table, the two nations have been strong allies against European countries, the message said.
“On the global financial reform discussions, Korea is a strong ally in the G-20 process (which it will chair in 2010)...... The ROKG is concerned that European countries are advocating other formulas for such discussions that would exclude Korea,” it said.
“Korea sees itself as lining up on the U.S. side on almost all G20 debates.”
According to Wikileaks, a website specialized in reporting leaked government and corporate documents, the cables are only the first batch and there will be many more to be exposed over the next few months.
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