Court keeps records on FTA with U.S. sealed
JoongAng Daily, Seoul
Court keeps records on FTA with U.S. sealed
7 November 2009
By Yoo Jee-ho
Accounts of free trade negotiations between Korea and the United States must be kept secret, a Seoul court ruled yesterday.
The Seoul Administrative Court rejected an appeal filed by a liberal civic group that the Korean government reveal the content of its free trade negotiations with the United States. The court reasoned that revealing documents on negotiations could have an adverse effect on the Korea-U.S. relations.
“Trade negotiating information is related to diplomatic relations [between the two countries],” the court said. “If it’s disclosed [unilaterally by Korea], then it could cause Korea grave damage.”
Last January, Lawyers for a Democratic Society filed a petition against the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, after the ministry rejected the group’s request to release parts of Korea’s negotiations with the United States for transparency.
The court noted that Seoul and Washington have agreed to keep their negotiation process secret and that Korea must honor the agreement “from the standpoint of maintaining mutual trust in the international community.” The court also said by abiding by that commitment, Korea will be able to solidify its position in the ongoing free trade negotiations or future discussions.
The court said although the lawyers’ group demanded to see some documents that didn’t include specific negotiating strategies for Korea, “They still contain an overall picture of the negotiation process.?.?.”
Korea and the United States signed their FTA in 2007, but the deal has yet to be ratified.
Kim Jin-wook, head of the FTA policy planning division at the ministry, said the two countries have an agreement under which they will not disclose details for three years after the ratification. “Violating this agreement would entail breaching of diplomatic protocol,” Kim said. “And we’ve already discussed trade negotiations in detail at the National Assembly in the past.”
Kim counted five previous occasions when civic interest groups had taken the ministry to court for its refusal to disclose information on negotiations and said courts have ruled in favor of the ministry each time.
Interest groups have argued that the public must be kept posted on trade negotiations with the United States on the grounds that Korea must show it wasn’t negotiating from a disadvantaged position.
In the early stages of the negotiations in 2006, farmers’ groups jointly filed a petition to force the trade ministry to assure them that rice wasn’t part of the discussions.
Farmers were wary of opening up the Korean rice market to the United States. It was ultimately excluded from the FTA.
