Government faces revolt over free-trade deal with US
Chosun Ilbo | Seoul | Apr.10, 2006
Government Faces Revolt Over Free-Trade Deal With U.S.
The government faces harsh opposition from within its ranks to plans for a free-trade agreement with the U.S. First up was the former presidential secretary for economic affairs, who charged the FTA would be tantamount to “a second Eulsa treaty” after the deal that cost Korea its independence in 1905. Ex-secretary Chung Tae-in also said the plans smacked of a bid by President Roh Moo-hyun to conjure a lasting legacy out of a hat.
On Monday, Sangji University President Kim Sung-hoon, a former minister of agriculture and forestry, joined the chorus, telling an online newspaper an FTA with the U.S. would reduce Korea to a 51st state. “The FTA would not only be political suicide but also brand Roh as the most incompetent president in the country’s history and his ‘participatory government’ as the one that sold out the country’s economy and culture,” Kim charged.
Some 16 lawmakers in the ruling Uri Party held a seminar on the FTA attended by Chung and the head of the People’s Coalition for Media Reform, Kim Young-ho. A participant said the lawmakers agreed they cannot blindly follow while the president and leading government figures push ahead with the FTA negotiations.
On March 28, some 270 civic groups including the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, the Federation of Korean Trade Unions and the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement formed a coalition against a free-trade deal with the U.S. and decided to start their national campaign on April 15. They plan to declare the situation an “emergency.”
Cheong Wa Dae is worried that could get in the way of progress in negotiations, for which there is little time. “This talk of becoming colonized betrays an old-fashioned mindset,” a government official said. “Without dominating the global market faster than anyone else, we cannot survive. Of course there are always risks, but we cannot avoid opening the market. The government itself is well aware of the risks and will do its best to adjust the speed and content in the negotiations.”
The government is reportedly considering setting up a special public relations office just to deal with opposition to the FTA. That opposition is expected to intensify after the upcoming local elections and probably right up to the U.S.-proposed deadline for negotiations in March 2007. In the process, it could also spill over into intense social conflict in Korea.
