Roh’s spokesman defends FTA with United States
Korea Times
Roh’s Spokesman Defends FTA With United States
By Ryu Jin, Staff Reporter
13 April 2006
The government has rolled up its sleeves to win over public support for the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States, as it is faced with more and more voices worrying about its possible negative implications.
Lee Baek-man, senior presidential secretary for public information, said Thursday that the trade deal is South Korea’s growth strategy which, if successfully concluded, would pull the nation into the ranks of the advanced countries.
Expected impacts of the South Korea-U.S. FTA on the improvement of growth rate, creation of jobs and attraction of foreign capital are epoch-making,'' he wrote in an article to the Web site of the presidential office (www.president.go.kr).Yet, what is much more important is whether we secure the competitiveness in the U.S. market, which is the core of the world market,’’ he added. The FTA with the United States would certainly upgrade the general competitiveness of the South Korean economy.''
His advocacy of the free trade pact comes as it has hit a snag well before fully-fledged negotiations between the two nations have begun. Even some leaders of the ruling camp as well as civic groups here have recently raised voices on the need toslow down’’ on it.
Seoul, which aims to conclude the bilateral agreement with Washington preferably by June of next year, declared the start of formal negotiations in February. But concerns have been growing fast after a former Chong Wa Dae insider’s biting criticism.
Jung Tae-in, who served as a presidential secretary for economic policies for two and a half years until 2005, has denounced President Roh Moo-hyun’s push for the free trade pact as a grave blunder'' which he said could endanger the entire South Koran economy.
In a series of interviews with several news outlets, he argued that the administration's FTA drive was born out of Roh'shasty eagerness’’ to produce a visible accomplishment during the remaining two years of his five-year tenure.
Roh, who entered his fourth year last February, chose the conclusion of the South Korea-U.S. FTA and the alleviation of the socioeconomic polarization at home as his the major policy objectives of his remaining days in office.
Debates, however, have heated up even within the governing camp, as a growing number of lawmakers including Rep. Kim Geun-tae, a potential presidential candidate of the ruling Uri Party, started to call for a cautious approach.''
A revelation that state-sponsored research institutes have intentionally manipulated some data to adorn the expected benefits of the FTA has put the administration into a yet worse situation.
Lee, the president's PR manager who had previously worked for economic dailies for about 20 years, did not lose heart and actively defended the government's position in his long article from various criticisms.
He refuted the argument, for example, that the FTA with the United States wouldAmericanize’’ the South Korean economy, saying it is anachronistic'' for some critics to analyze the trade pact with theold theory of dependence in the 1980s.’’
As for the allegation that the proposed FTA is the result of a pro-U.S. approach, he said, ``What could you call pro-U.S. or anti-U.S. in the trade policies? There is only national interest, and for that, there should be no distinction of ruling and opposition parties or any ideological divide.’’
