Statements from a press conference challenging the US-Korea free trade agreement
Oakland Institute | 7 June 2006
Statements from the Press Conference Challenging the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement
Co-organized by the Korea Policy Institute and the Oakland Institute
Lee Hong Se
Vice-Chairman, National Farmers Union
Good morning. I am here to represent 3.5 million Korean farmers. We have traveled to this far distant land to expose the injustice and lies underlying the U.S.-Korea FTA negotiations and to demand that the governments of the United States and Korea unconditionally terminate negotiations. The FTA is a strategy to transform the Korean economy for the purpose of enlarging American corporate profits. This is simply greed.
To this day, we farmers, under difficult conditions, have spilled our blood and sweat to protect our farmlands so we can provide the people of our nation with safe and superior food. We are now, however, faced with ruin since we have become the targets of the government’s deception and exploitation through their strident calls for globalization and de-regulation on behalf of corporations.
Although exports and the national income have risen in South Korea, it has done so without any corresponding growth in the income of everyday Korean people. Put simply, no matter how much exports increase, the lives of workers, common people, and owners of small to medium businesses have not and will not improve. Only large export-oriented corporations stand to profit.
American agriculture is 100-times the scale of Korea’s, and the US proposed FTA would put already struggling Korean farming households into more dire circumstances. Since the Uruguay Round, the condition of our farmers has become gradually worse. In 2005, the average rural household debt of a farming family surpassed $30,000 and $150,000 for larger-scale agricultural households. According to the United States International Trade Commission, the FTA would result in damages to the Korean agricultural industry of an estimated $8.8 billion. This dollar amount does no justice to the devastating rippling effects throughout Korea’s economy and society beyond what is visible to the eye.
Agriculture’s value is not simply in the food we grow. Agriculture is about environmental conservation and the preservation of pastoral scenery, but above all, the security of one’s nation and people to be free from the vagaries of a global economy.
We have not forgotten the sacrifice of the martyr Lee Kyung Hae who killed himself to defend our agricultural industry and the livelihood of our fishermen and farmers in Mexico in September 2003. We, the 3.5 million farmers of our country, carry on his spirit and will block at all costs the U.S.-Korea FTA that threatens to ruin not only our farms but also our national economy we have grown with our sweat and blood. We solemnly pledge here, at this place, to take responsibility for our people’s agricultural autonomy and self-sufficiency and to labor for the continued development of our agriculture and fishing industries. Like the Swiss farmers and people who resisted American demands for the “de-regulation of the entire agricultural sector,” we the Koreans will fight to ensure the collapse of the FTA negotiations.
Lee Kang Sil
Korean Hospital and Medical Workers’ Union
The Korean government believes that hundreds of thousands new jobs will be created through the establishment of an FTA with the United States.
Our experience has shown that global regulations protecting the rights of corporations as seen in the post 1997 post-IMF crisis leads to irregular work. Even if employment increases, the quality of employment has decreased. Korean workers have already suffered from unstable employment, which has disproportionately hit women hardest.
The Korean government believes that the Korea-America FTA is a good opportunity to increase the competition of our nation’s service industry. Despite open-market policies instituted in 1996, domestic discount marts like E-Mart and Home Plus are always ranked first and second. As many of us know, many of these companies employ women. However, competition between domestic companies against international companies within the open service industry ultimately means worsening working environments for women, regardless of whether the company is domestic or international.
Additionally, the Korea-US FTA will affect healthcare, education, and various public services. In particular, pressure from the film industry, education for children, and elderly care will ultimately fall on women. The declining rate for the women working in public health services and restaurants will become even more serious.
The financial responsibility for the family ultimately falls on the woman. Without adequate public services and worsening labor conditions facing women, Korean women will not be able to help nurture their own families, their community, and ultimately the society.
Many claim that the Korea-US FTA will stabilize the female employment, but it seems as if they are ignoring the current status of female employment. More effort should be put towards making others realize the importance of female employment to the service industry. The Korea-US FTA is not just a problem for the female population. The ultimate effect of the Korea-US FTA should be looked at from the point of view of those who will suffer rather than from those who will gain from it.
No one can deny that women, who are considered to be weaker part of the society, will be the biggest victims out of Korea-America FTA. Korean women’s organizations and Korean women will fight against the passage of the Korea-America FTA.
Ki Kap Kang
National Assembly Member, Democratic Labor Party of Republic of Korea
Good morning. My name is Ki Kap Kang, and I am a National Assembly Member of the Democratic Labor Party, known as the party representing the hope for working people.
Ever since President Roh Moo Hyun revealed his intent to pursue a FTA with the United States, every aspect of Korean society from labor, agriculture, entertainment, civic groups, and health sectors have voiced their opposition to the proposed deal.
Korean law mandates public hearings on trade agreements, yet the President "anticipating fierce opposition" blatantly violated this rule to shut out the concerns of citizens, business, and members of the National Assembly. Furthermore, the government, without conducting any impact assessments, went ahead and shamefully accepted several pre-conditions made by the U.S. in order to start talks.
The Roh administration caved in to U.S. demands and will now import U.S. beef that could be contaminated with mad-cow disease. The Roh government also unilaterally announced that it would cut the existing film screen quota, which has both cultivated the South Korean entertainment industry and preserved Korean culture. This has triggered massive protest by the film industry, including nightly demonstrations.
The Roh administration, citing statistics from its government agency, the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, proclaimed that a FTA would benefit the Korean economy. Due to suspicion that the government agency report’s numbers were fabricated, a public investigation has been prompted questioning the validity of the report. Meanwhile, new research shows that the FTA has the potential to wreak tremendous havoc on the Korean economy and society, particularly agriculture.
According to the South Korean government’s own institute, the KREI, Korean agriculture could face a loss of 2,283,000 million won or over $2 billion dollars. However, according to presentations made at a forum hosted by the Private Sector Taskforce on FTA, Korean agriculture alone will lose profits up to 7,693,200 million won, over $7 billion dollars, if tariffs on farming products are removed. There is also a major discrepancy in figures projected by the government and by the seafood industry. According to the government, deep-sea fishermen face loss in profits not exceeding 45,800 million won, but the seafood industry estimates losses of 577,400 million won.
Perhaps the most frightening aspect of the government’s draft negotiation proposal is the promulgation of a legal system that would guarantee U.S. corporations the right to sue the South Korean government for public policies that are considered barriers to trade. This means that Korea’s many hard-won environmental and labor laws could be eliminated overnight, including the end of Korea’s minimum wage and social services.
According to national media surveys, 55 percent of Koreans oppose the U.S.-Korea FTA, and 66 percent oppose the dumping of U.S. agriculture resulting from the FTA.
For these reasons, the Democratic Labor Party opposes the FTA and will work with Korean civil society and businesses to protect the human rights of all Koreans.
Click here to learn more about the press conference held on June 7 2006.
