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Korea

US welcomes agreement on drug pricing with Korea, denies it was concession
12-Aug-2006
The United States welcomed Friday an agreement reached with South Korea on a pharmaceutical pricing system that had impeded bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) talks but denied it was a concession on its part.
Gains seen in US-South Korea trade talks
11-Aug-2006
South Korea and the United States reported an apparent breakthrough in free-trade talks Friday after bickering over pharmaceuticals cut short negotiations last month.
US accepts South Korea’s new drug-pricing policy
11-Aug-2006
The United States has accepted South Korea’s new drug-pricing measure aimed at offering quality medicine at cheaper prices, brightening the future of the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on pharmaceutical issues, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare yesterday.
Seoul, Washington to hold FTA negotiations in third country
11-Aug-2006
Seoul and Washington reportedly have a plan to hold separate negotiations on the controversial issue of pharmaceutical pricing in a third country, ahead of the third round of FTA talks to be held in the U.S.
Gov’t to Seek FTA With China After Pact With U.S.
10-Aug-2006
The government hopes to start free trade negotiations with China in the first half of next year after it clinches a free trade agreement with the U.S, a senior government official said Thursday.
U.S. blocked S.K.-China trade deal: politician
10-Aug-2006
According to recently-released data from a conference held last year, when China showed its intention to seek a free trade agreement with Korea, the U.S. gave a strong warning and the Korean government backed away from the deal, going with the U.S. instead.
S Korea denies report of rejecting China’s FTA offer on US worries
10-Aug-2006
South Korean Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong on Thursday denied a report that the Seoul government rejected China’s proposal to sign a free trade agreement last year after the United States expressed concerns over Beijing’s huge presence in Northeast Asia.
Korea, China not ready for free trade pact: trade official
10-Aug-2006
A South Korean trade official, who participated in the recent free trade negotiations with Washington, said that Seoul was not in a position to play the "China card" in its negotiations with the United States for fear of causing unnecessary backlash from Washington, referring to the negotiation leverage that might be gained by first signing a free trade pact with China.
How the public participate in taking the position and action against FTA?
10-Aug-2006 Media Culture Action against neoliberal globalization
Experiences & strategies for radical communication in (counter) public sphere around Kor-US FTA talk during the 1st half of 2006
’Korea unprepared for U.S. FTA talks’
9-Aug-2006
Eight out of ten lawmakers think the government were insufficiently prepared to enter free trade talks with the United States, and criticized them for failing to seek a national consensus before starting negotiations two months ago.
Seoul reveals a lack of experience in FTA negotiations
9-Aug-2006
"We are learning new things while we’re negotiating with the American representatives," said a Korean official who was part of the labor section negotiation team during the first round of the Korea-U.S. FTA talks, held in Washington last June. "The U.S. is demanding the introduction of a so-called ’public communication system,’ which was a term that we heard for the first time," the negotiator told Hankyoreh.
East Asia FTA can be done in 10 years, says Ong
9-Aug-2006
A free trade agreement (FTA) between Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) and China, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia and India (East Asia FTA) is possible in the next 10 years, Asean secretary-general, Ong Keng Yong, said Tuesday.
Economists call FTA with US hasty
8-Aug-2006
Seoul National University President Chung Un-chan, who is also a prominent economist, has criticized the government’s handling of the free trade agreement with the United States as hasty application of theory.
Ex-Roh supporter calls on president to stop FTA
7-Aug-2006 Korea Times
Well-known social commentator and oriental philosopher Kim Young-oak, better known by his penname Doh-ol, said that Korean President Roh Moo-hyun should stop pushing for the establishment of a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States, citing the lack of public support.
US FTA to cause big drop in agriculture output: report
4-Aug-2006 Hankyoreh
A free trade pact with the United States is expected to cause South Korean agricultural output to fall by 1-2 trillion won (US$1.03-$2.07 billion), a report by a state-run think tank said Friday.
Lawmakers mulling free trade impact
2-Aug-2006
The “Special committee for the Korea-US FTA in the national assembly” kicked off yesterday with an opening session to deal with the Korea-US FTA issues at the lawmaker level.
Business Lobby Group Urges FTA with EU
2-Aug-2006
Korea’s big-business lobby is urging a free-trade agreement with the European Union. The Federation of Korean Industries reports the Korean and the European economies are complementary, hence there will be few hurdles to sealing a pact.
Half of Koreans oppose US FTA
2-Aug-2006 Korea Times
Half of South Koreans said in a recent poll that they oppose a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States.
Anti-FTA bodies join forces against US deals
1-Aug-2006 Bangkok Post
Thailand’s anti-FTA movements have formed an alliance with counterparts in other countries including South Korea, Costa Rica and Colombia against US efforts to strike bilateral trade agreements across the globe.
An FTA story for children
31-Jul-2006
Hello, my young friends! I want to share with you a strange math equation that I found. It attempts to tell you what the sum is after such and such numbers are added up. Or, it tries to tell you the average of all these numbers combined. For example, it tells what GDP is, what the whole trade volume is, what per capita income is. Confusing? Well, I am not so good at numbers, so I also didn’t let the equation bother me very much, either. It was perhaps because I wasn’t that much interested in economics, after all.