A group of lawmakers from South Korea's ruling party on Thursday denounced the government for its ill-preparedness in the ongoing talks on a free trade agreement (FTA) between South Korea and the United State.
"The burden of negotiation has been on the South Korean side since the first round of the talks," South Korea's ruling Uri Party's 23 lawmakers said in a statement. "Not having made extensive preparations, South Korea is trapped in unequal negotiations with the United States."
The statement was made amid the sixth round of the free trade talks between South Korea and the United States, which opened in Seoul on Monday for a five-day run.
The lawmakers stated that the South Korean government was not able to achieve its major goals.
"Inclusion of the (North Korean-manufactured) Kaesong products in the Korea-U.S. FTA is not likely to happen due to the objection of the U.S. Congress," they said. "Furthermore, the U.S.
negotiators are sticking to the existing procedures of U.S. trade remedies." Seoul wants the inter-Korean made products manufactured in North Korea's border city of Kaesong to be included in the FTA-covered products, but Washington has rejected the idea.
The Kaesong industrial Complex is a pilot inter-Korean economic venture, in which South Korean businesses use inexpensive North Korean labor to produce goods. Some 20 South Korean factories employ about 11,000 North Korean workers in Kaesong.
Meanwhile, U.S. manufacturers are pursuing antidumping duty trade remedies in order to protect their own markets from being injured by such trade practices as dumping or subsidizing.
U.S. firms have often filed petitions with Washington against South Korean manufacturers to impose anti-dumping duties.
South Korea demands a revision of U.S. antidumping laws, which it believes have often been used to unfairly curb its exports.
The South Korean lawmakers complained that their government too easily gives in to U.S. demands for wider opening of the local market.
"South Korea already started lifting barriers regarding the most contentious issues, such as beef, screen quotas, automobiles and pharmaceuticals, even before the negotiations began," they stated.
The lawmakers said they support the nine lawmakers who have been on a hunger strike since Monday to protest the free trade deal.
Outside the hotel where the talks are held, lawmakers from the left-leaning opposition Democratic Labor Party fasted for the fourth day.
Seoul, Jan. 18 (Yonhap News)
Ruling party lawmakers denounce government for ill-preparedness in Korea-U.S. FTA talks |
