The government's plan to amend the free trade deal with Washington...
and its assessment of the impact of FTA on Korean industries wil be unveiled later this
month.
Agriculture-related groups call the pact one-sided and demands its termination.
Local experts point out this should be utilized as a chance to make necessary changes.
Kim Ji-yeon helps us covers the various facets of the issue.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is to outline its plan to the National Assembly
later this month on some of the contentious issues and the direction it'll take ahead
of negotiations for the amendment of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement.
Eyes are on the ministry on whether it'll incorporate requests from various industry
groups that were voiced out through a series of public hearings and discussions held in
recent months.
(standup ed: steve) "The second public hearing on the Korea-U.S.
FTA went on as planned, with experts and industry officials from various fields assessing the
impact and sharing their views on the deal.
It's regarded as progress compared to the first public hearing last month, which ended
after just 20 minutes due to vehement protests from local agriculture-related groups calling
for a termination of the deal."
Agriculture-related groups made sure to voice their discontent as they claimed they've been
neglected for the past five years, left to wither away.
They also pressured the government to fulfill its promise to support the agricultural industry
by raising funds and increase distribution routes.
They also called for an exemption of agricultural goods being subjected to price ceilings pursuant
to the anti-corruption law on meals and gifts.
(Korean ) "Terminate, terminate, terminate Scrap talks
on FTA amendments " ( , , , , )
Their calls to terminate the five-year-old trade deal may seem drastic, but many local
experts in Korea are increasingly putting weight to their claims.
Some go as far as to argue that the bilateral trade deal has been one-sided and is an unfair
agreement that only brings merit to the U.S. and little to no benefit to Korea.
(Korean) "Korea can't even impose basic protectionist
measures such as safeguards on U.S. beef imports due to the FTA deal.
It says Korea can only trigger it when there's a minimum 350-thousand tons of U.S. beef imports,
an impossibly high standard.
Korea is currently importing 180-thousand tons and it's already dominating the domestic
beef market."
(Korean) "Some 100-thousand local cattle farms have
disappeared during the five years the FTA deal took effect as prices and output continues
to plummet.
The bilateral deal is increasingly driving the local industry into the brink of collapse."
The rationale in maintaining the FTA also loses ground when taking into account its
impact to the local auto sector... considered as the main benefactor of the deal.
Data by the Korea Customs Office, the country's auto exports to the U.S. tumbled 9-and-a-half
percent from the previous year to around 965-thousand units in 2016... even after tariffs were slashed
to zero from 2-point-5-percent under the terms of the free trade deal.
(Korean ) "The U.S. has more to lose with the termination
of the bilateral FTA since it would reinstate the eight-percent tariff rate on car exports
to Korea which was slashed in 2012... while Korean automakers would carry on with business
as usual with the 2-point-5 tariff rate."
Although it was U.S. President Donald Trump who first indicated the need to terminate
the current bilateral free trade deal...
experts say Korea need not to be crestfallen and dragged into further demands made by the
U.S. that would go against Korea's national interests.
Rather, this should be a chance for Korea to right the wrongs of the one-sided, unfair
portions of the current agreement that go against the original intention of a free trade
deal.
Kim Ji-yeon, Arirang News.