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US-Korea

The US-Korea free trade agreement (or KORUS FTA, as called in Korea) has been one of the most controversial since NAFTA, if one could measure in terms of social mobilisation. Millions of people have fought against this deal, taking to the streets and flying across the Pacific to try to defeat it.

Washington and Seoul talked about a possible free trade agreement for several years before anything got started. As it turns out, the US had four preliminary demands for the Korean government to fulfil before any FTA talks could start. The four prerequisites were:

 suspending regulations on pharmaceutical product prices so US drug firms could get a better deal in the Korean market (secured in October 2005)
 easing government regulations on gas emissions in imported US cars so that more American cars could be sold in Korea (secured in November 2005)
 resuming importation of US beef, which were stopped in 2003 because of mad cow disease in the US (agreed in January 2006) and
 reducing South Korea’s compulsory film quota for cinemas from 146 days per year to 73 days so that more American films could be shown (agreed in January 2006).

Once the Roh administration caved in to the last item, the two governments announced, on 2 February 2006, that FTA talks would start in May 2006 and end by June 2007.

The implications of the US-Korea FTA stretch far beyond Korean movie houses as the agreement would open the entire Korean economy to US corporate penetration. Korean farmers and workers organised a strenuous resistance to the deal, with support from actors, students, health professionals, consumers groups, environmental organisation, veterinarians, lawyers and other sectors. Alliances were also built with opponents to the deal in the US, including AFL-CIO, the country’s largest labour union.

The first round of negotiations took place in the US on 5-9 June 2006. Ten months and eight formal rounds (not to mention numerous side talks on side agreements) later, the deal was concluded on 2 April 2007 in Seoul, just hours after a Korean taxi driver commited self-immolation in protest to the signing.

This was not the end, however. Two weeks later, newly elected Korean President Lee Myung-Bak travelled to Washington to sign the FTA. While there, on 18 April, the two governments inked yet another side deal that the US insisted was necessary for the FTA to go through. This deal laid out explicit rules on how Korea was to open its market in the broadest way to US beef imports, despite concerns about mad cow disease. The adoption of this secret pact triggered off what became known as the "beef crisis" in Korea. Students, mothers and consumers raised a fury of candlelight protests and other actions that by June 2008 had ministers resigning and the president own tenure under threat.

After several more years of sustained opposition to the agreement, the US-Korea FTA was finally ratification by both countries’ parliaments and took effect in November 2011 However opposition to, and concerns about the FTA have not faded since it passed, with many worried about the implications of the investor-state dispute mechanism in the deal.

last update: May 2012

Photo: Joe Mabel / CC BY-SA 3.0


Investment crucial for KORUS FTA success: official
South Korea’s vice finance minister on Saturday stressed the importance of boosting investment between Seoul and Washington to fully utilize their free trade agreement.
Understanding free trade through the KORUS FTA & the necessity of regional economic cooperation
This booklet is based on the discussions between activists and academics during strategy meetings in Seoul and in Japan about economic cooperation in the Asia Pacific region. It focuses on the KORUS FTA which is a model of TPPA but also deals with the alternative model.
Guam-NMI lawmakers want trade pact with Korea
Lawmakers from Guam and the CNMI are organizing themselves to lobby for the inclusion of two territories in the U.S.-South Korea free trade agreement.
Leading US official rules out renegotiation of free trade pact
Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Wendy Cutler ruled out renegotiation of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement on Thursday, saying the deal had been in effect for just six weeks. Her comments foreshadowed a tough time for the Korean government’s efforts to revise the investor-state dispute settlement system under the accord.
Supreme Court recommends renegotiation of ISD clause
Controversial KORUS FTA clause could lead to ‘legal chaos’, says Korea’s top legal body
Mad-cow scare stalls US beef sales in Sth Korea
South Korean agriculture officials are considering whether to formally suspend delivery of US beef to stores by halting quarantine inspections, preventing it from clearing customs.
Korea trade deal unlikely to benefit Chrysler, CEO says
Chrysler-Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne told lawmakers Wednesday he is skeptical of the benefits of some free-trade agreements, and urged caution about proceeding with some new agreements.
Customs officials busy on Day 1 of FTA`s effectuation
A cargo plane that departed from Chicago arrived at Incheon International Airport at 7:39 a.m. Thursday. The plane was the first vehicle to bring U.S. freight to Korea since the bilateral free trade agreement took effect Thursday.
After KORUS FTA, new pressures on the horizon
As the South Korea-United States Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) takes effects Thursday, some are expecting new trade pressures from the US, including moves to open the beef market. In particular, South Korea will be forced to sit down at the negotiating table if the US requests negotiations on beef.
US calls for additional FTA measures to ensure transparency in medicine pricing in Korea
With just days left before the implementation of the US-Korea free trade agreement Washington is drawing attention to a little publicized area of the trade treaty, the part covering the pricing of medicine in Korea. The US says it wants more transparency; the Korean pharmaceutical industry says it wants to maintain control over pricing domestically.

    Links


  • AMCHAM Korea
    The American Chamber of Commerce in Korea
  • Ben Muse - KORUS FTA
    A blog with a large number of links and references to the US-Korea FTA talks and analyses about them.
  • KAWAN
    Korean Americans Against War and Neoliberalism
  • Korea Policy Institute
    The US-based Korea Policy Institute produces policy briefs, organizes Congressional press briefings and sponsors policy roundtable on the proposed US-South Korea Free Trade Agreement.
  • Korean Civil Society Coalition against KORUS FTA on Intellectual Property Rigthts
    Korean Civil Society Coalition against KORUS FTA on Intellectual Property Rigthts (KCSC) is deeply worried about the Korea-US FTA negotiations especially on the issue of IPRs such as copyright, patent and trademark and strongly opposes the whole process of Korea-US FTA negotiations.
  • US-Korea FTA Business Council
    The US-Korea FTA Business Coalition is a group of over 100 leading US companies and trade associations that strongly support the conclusion and passage of a free trade agreement between the United States and the Republic of Korea.
  • VoiceofPeople
    The VoiceofPeople is a progressive internet press outfit in Korea covering the FTA struggle.