U.S. President Barack Obama is reportedly planning to send the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement to the Senate for ratification as early as this week. The United States is speeding up the process of ratification, with President Lee Myung-bak scheduled to make a state visit to Washington on Oct. 13.
The final obstacle to ratification reportedly was the proposed extension of Trade Adjustment Assistance, a program designed to help U.S. workers who fall victim to foreign competition. With the TAA bill having passed the Senate on Sept. 22, the White House is now said to be ready to submit the free trade agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama to Congress.
In Korea, however, the problem is more complicated, as the rival parties have yet to conclude negotiations on ratification. The main opposition Democratic Party is demanding a new round of talks with the United States on the trade accord, which it says was revised at the expense of Korean interests through renegotiations.
Few would claim the opposition’s claim is totally misplaced, given that the free trade agreement concluded with the Bush administration was revised at the request of the Obama administration, which had found fault with auto trade clauses.
Even so, the Korean auto industry is calling for an early ratification. It apparently believes it will be better off with the accord than without it. That is why the Democratic Party will do well to heed the advice and speed up negotiations with the ruling Grand National Party on what remedial measures need to be taken before the accord is ratified.
The opposition party has been pushing for a “10 plus two” plan ― a plan containing 10 areas to be negotiated with the United States and two areas that need to be addressed domestically. Given the realpolitik embedded in Korea-U.S. relations, a new round of “re-renegotiations” is all but out of the question. As such, the opposition party would do well to focus on its demands for domestic measures in talking with the ruling party.
In this regard, the floor leader of the ruling party said last week that negotiations with his opposition counterpart are nearing an accord. If true, this is undoubtedly a ray of hope for those who wish to see the motion for ratification pass under a bipartisan accord. An unthinkable alternative would be the motion being railroaded.
