Prospects for Seoul-Washington FTA look shaky: officials
The Hankyoreh | 12 January 2007
Prospects for Seoul-Washington FTA look shaky: officials
Apparently upset by the U.S. refusal to address its key demand for easing anti-dumping rules, South Korea said Friday it will refuse formal discussion of automobile and other issues of U.S. concern at the upcoming free trade talks between the two countries.
The tough South Korean move clouded the prospects for a sixth round of free trade talks scheduled to open in Seoul on Monday.
The talks which began in June last year have so far made few breakthroughs.
"Discussions on trade remedies, automobiles and medicine were halted during the fifth round of talks. There has since been no advanced U.S. position on the issue, so we’ve decided not to hold these three committee meetings this time," South Korea’s Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry said in a statement.
Those issues, however, are expected to be discussed informally between top negotiators from both sides, the ministry said, adding that there also will be no official discussion on quarantine disputes touched off by tough South Korean rules on U.S. beef imports.
Overall, 14 committees will be convened in Seoul to handle less disputed areas, including some industrial and agricultural products, services, competition and intellectual property rights, it said.
A committee handling the rules of origin will meet separately in Seoul on Jan. 23-25, the ministry said without elaborating.
The mood among South Korean delegates remains subdued after the U.S. rejected outright one of their key demands for eliminating or restricting the imposition of U.S. anti-dumping duties on imports from South Korea.
South Korean officials believe that the U.S. has so far overly used its anti-dumping rules to block shipments of semiconductors and other high-tech Korean industrial goods.
The Koreans have strongly indicated that they would not address such key U.S. interests as opening wider South Korea’s lucrative automobile and medicine sectors.
"We have a 50-50 chance," Lee Hye-min, deputy chief of South Korea’s 200-member delegation, said of this round of talks. "The prospects for success are not as low as seen by some."
Time is running short for the talks that should be wrapped up by the end of March at the latest. U.S. delegates have until April 2 to submit a deal to Congress for a vote for or against without amendments.
Under U.S. President George W. Bush’s "fast-track" trade promotion authority which expires on July 1, a free trade bill requires a 90-day congressional review before voting. Discussions of quarantine issues will also be suspended pending resolution of "technical" disputes over U.S. beef imports.
Lifting a three-year ban on U.S. beef imports caused by the discovery of a case of mad cow disease in the U.S., South Korea allowed shipments in September on condition that no bones be included in them.
South Korea has since turned back three shipments of U.S. beef totaling 22.3 tons after some bone fragments were found in the meat. U.S. officials protested that South Korea employed excessively strict rules to block U.S. imports.
The South Korean agreement to allow in boneless U.S. beef is only for health reasons. Scientists say that mad cow disease can be transmitted to humans through bone marrow.
Also looming as a potential deal-breaker is South Korea’s adamant refusal to open its rice market. The U.S. insists there should be no exception under the proposed free trade agreement.
Rice, the staple for 48.5 million South Koreans, is the most sensitive of all for the Seoul government. Farmers have frequently staged violent protests against the negotiations.
Free trade negotiations with the U.S. have drawn considerable protests in South Korea. Farmers and activists claim that if a trade deal is signed, it would devastate their livelihoods due to a flood of cheaper American goods. Police have banned demonstrators from holding protests at the venue for the talks, a luxury hotel in central Seoul, and several areas of the capital.
Starting Monday, police will mobilize about 15,000 riot police to protect the venue and prevent demonstrations throughout the week, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said in a statement on Friday.
