Korea has signed a basic pact on a free trade agreement (FTA) with the ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It will be a while before the specifics about what areas of the market are to be liberalized and what is going to be protected, but the road now leads to free trade with ASEAN, Korea's fourth largest export market. Trade with that region is far greater in volume compared to Korea's FTA with Chile and other two FTA's, and the agreement means Korea is keeping on top of the global trend toward free trade. While behind China in signing an arrangement with ASEAN, Korea is nevertheless relatively early in making sure its industrial products do not lose their competitiveness in the Southeast Asian market, and the move is also significant in that it has opened up the way for participation in a free trade initiative that links Southeast Asia with Northeast Asia.
FTA's have become a whole new global trend in multiparty trade. Just as you put yourself in danger if you go the speed limit when all the other cars are speeding past you, the argument that you cannot resist the trend does have merit. However, Korea is in a situation that makes it hard to be 100 percent happy about the options, because of the tradeoffs. The FTA with ASEAN will be a green light for Korean exports but will present yet another trial for Korean agriculture. The government says that major farm products such as rice and garlic will be exceptions but that remains to be seen. It is hard to say what Korea's farmers will have to deal with as a result of the talks on product import liberalization. Thailand and Vietnam are both making strong demands for rice market liberalization.
Korea needs to win enough time for farmers to engage in restructuring, because that is what has to happen whether we like it or not. Even without this farmers were in a tough spot because of the recent ratification of a separate rice agreement and the Doha negotiations. Korea has to consider the option of choosing a "lesser painful" approach in which it gives a little in the area of industrial products to gain more for farmers. The government will only be making the eventual discord worse if it makes the unilateral claim that it never had any options.
The Hankyoreh, 14 December 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection]
[Editorial] Skilled Negotiating Needed in ASEAN Trade Agreement |
