Officials from South Korea and the United States resumed free trade agreement (FTA) talks in Seoul Monday amid tight security as opponents staged street protests against them.
The two countries launched FTA talks in Washington in early June, hoping to sign a formal deal by early next year. South Korean farmers and supporters vow to block it, arguing that the deal, if signed, would threaten their livelihoods.
"I remain optimistic about the prospects for our success for a Korea-U.S. FTA," Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Wendy Cutler was quoted as saying in a pool report. "I don't envision any deal breakers." About 2,000 riot police were deployed around a hotel in downtown Seoul where about 350 officials from the two sides opened five days of talks. Chief trade negotiator Kim Jong-hoon led the South Korean delegation, while the U.S. team was headed by Cutler.
"No FTA. Wendy Cutler go home," about 20 protesters chanted as riot police formed a human barrier to block their attempt to march into the hotel. Dozens of other protesters scuffled with riot police, but no serious injuries were reported. Organizers predicted that more than 100,000 protesters would gather for daily street demonstrations during the negotiations this week.
South Korean officials promised to do their best to protect their national interests in the negotiations. "Our government's basic stance is that, if the U.S. requests are unacceptable, no settlement will be made," Kim told reporters.
"If our people don't accept the free trade deal with the U.S., the National Assembly won't ratify the accord."
Kim said his government would not allow the local market for rice, the staple of Koreans, to be open to imports under the envisaged accord.
"In my personal view, I don't expect any significant progress to be made during the second round of talks, because the negotiations are still at an early stage," Kim said, adding that both sides may exchange initial proposals relating to deadlines and the categorization of trade items during next week's talks.
U.S. officials insisted that there should be no exceptions for free trade, including rice.
"I hope signing an FTA to bring a win-win gain for both South Korea and the U.S.," said Alexander Vershbow, the U.S. ambassador to South Korea, in a brief remark for a dinner reception for delegates from the two nations.
Both sides hope to wrap up the negotiations as soon as possible so that the U.S. Congress can ratify the pact before U.S. President George W. Bush's so-called Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) expires in mid-2007.
This special authority allows the Bush administration to negotiate a free trade pact without Congress having to approve amendments. For the U.S., a deal with South Korea would be the biggest trade pact since the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994.
South Korea is the world's 11th-largest economy and the U.S.' seventh-biggest trading partner. Two-way trade amounted to US$72 billion last year, with South Korea posting a surplus of $16 billion, according to South Korean government data.
At the first round of talks held in Washington last month, U.S. trade officials said progress had been made, while some sensitive issues for South Korea remained intact.
After the first formal talks, Cutler told reporters, "We've clearly hit the ground running ... We were able in almost all the areas to develop what we call in the trade world a consolidated text."
During the second talks, another major stumbling block will be products made in an inter-Korean industrial park in North Korea, experts say. South Korea wants the U.S. to accept goods made at the Kaesong industrial complex as South Korean products.
There are 15 South Korean companies making products as diverse as clothes and kitchenware at the experimental industrial area that lies just a few kilometers north of the heavily fortified demilitarized zone that divides the two Koreas.
South Korea expects a free trade accord with the U.S. would help boost inter-Korean business projects, but the U.S. has said the free trade accord will only apply to products made in the South.
However, U.S. negotiators have been pessimistic over the issue, saying a pact would only extend to goods from both nations, excluding North Korea.
"The agreement should cover the U.S. and Republic of Korea and that is our position," Cutler told reporters on Monday. The Republic of Korea is the official name of South Korea.
In a statement released early Friday, the government warned it would deal sternly with any violence during the talks. Police stepped up security around major government offices and U.S. facilities.
In an e-mail interview with Yonhap News Agency on Friday, Tami Overby, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea, warned that South Korea would lose a "once in a lifetime opportunity" to take its economic relationship with the United States to the next level and suffer heavily if ongoing free trade talks collapse.
"If this deal fails, it is the Korean economy that will suffer the most as your other trading partners will celebrate this failure since it is clearly not in their interests for us to reach this deal," Overby said.
"Last time the U.S. government lost a TPA, we didn't get it back for eight years, so I believe this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to take our economic relationship to the next level and help ensure Korea's future competitiveness," Overby said.
"If we fail, I expect Korea's neighbors will be prepared to take full advantage of this lost opportunity," she said.
Seoul and Washington set no official deadline for the free trade talks, and the two sides are scheduled to hold further negotiations in September, October and December
Seoul, July 10 (Yonhap News)
S. Korea, U.S. start FTA talks amid protests |
