Liberal party blocks talks on Korea-US FTA ratification
Yonhap 11 Feb 2008
Liberal party blocks talks on Korea-U.S. FTA ratification
By Shin Hae-in
SEOUL, Feb. 11 (Yonhap) — A scheduled parliamentary discussion on the ratification of a South Korea-U.S. free trade deal was called off Monday as members of a liberal party blockaded the meeting venue to thwart submission of the bill.
Eight lawmakers of the progressive Democratic Labor Party blocked the committee room, scuffling with fellow legislators and parliamentary officials. The committee meeting was postponed without further notice.
The chances of ratifying the free trade agreement within this month’s parliamentary session are becoming slimmer as the liberal party has vowed to fend off a vote on the bill until the incoming government presents sufficient countermeasures for the nation’s farming industry.
President-elect Lee Myung-bak’s Grand National Party has been seeking prompt ratification of the bill in a bid to wrap up the deal before Lee’s Feb. 25 inauguration.
The pro-government United New Democratic Party, holding 135 seats in the 299-member National Assembly, is looking to vote on the bill after the April 9 parliamentary elections, fearing possible negative fallout from voters.
Lee has said several times that he will make efforts to fully open the domestic market to U.S. beef — a key U.S. condition for ratification — ahead of an envisioned summit with U.S. President George W. Bush in the coming months.
Lee’s move to speed up ratification has been fueling fierce opposition from farmers’ groups and anti-FTA civic groups here.
Since the conclusion of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement last year, farmers here have demanded sufficient compensation and countermeasures to minimize possible negative impact from the FTA, fearing they will not be able to compete with cheap imported products.
Beef imports are causing controversy as backbones, spinal cords and intestines — parts consumed by many South Koreans — are said to contain a high ratio of specified hazardous materials, a main factor for mad cow disease.
But business groups here are demanding prompt ratification of the agreement, complaining that the delay is causing great losses to South Korean exporters of manufactured goods to the world’s biggest market.
Meanwhile, Lee Suk-haeng, head of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions — a militant labor umbrella group — left for a four-day trip to the United States Monday, vowing to nullify the motion in cooperation with U.S. labor groups.
"Chairman Lee will seek cooperation from labor circles in the United States to nullify the deal," the group said in a press release.
Lee is scheduled to meet with Sandy Levin, Democrat chairman of the House Trade subcommittee, John Sweeney, president of the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations, and Anna Burger, Change to Win Federation president during his visit.
