Breakthrough may be in sight on FTA impasse

DP faces calls from within to compromise


Prospects brightened for an end to parliamentary deadlock over the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement Wednesday, after the main opposition Democratic Party faced growing calls from within the party to drop its demand for the deal’s renegotiation.

About half of the DP’s 87 lawmakers were reported to be supporting a concession plan, which calls on party leaders to back off from their initial demand that a set of Investor-State Dispute settlement clauses be deleted from the agreement.

Instead, the lawmakers want the Korean government’s promise that it will open talks with Washington regarding the possible abolishment of the ISD rules as soon as the FTA takes effect.

“We will collect signatures from as many DP lawmakers as possible, try to make the proposal the party’s official stance and then suggest it to the Grand National Party and the government,” a DP lawmaker told the Yonhap news agency on condition of anonymity.

It was reported that Reps. Kang Bong-kyun, Kim Sung-gon, Choi In-kee and Kim Dong-cheol are key figures behind the move. Rep. Kim Jin-pyo, the party’s floor leader, was reported to be supportive of the watered-down proposal.

The DP and other liberal opposition groups have been staging a sit-in protest for days at a parliamentary trade committee room, where the FTA bill is pending, to block the FTA’s ratification.

Because of their resistance, the committee was unable to vote on the bill to make it ready for a final ballot during a plenary session.

Leaders of the GNP have been warning that the opposition members are leaving them with no option but to railroad the bill through. The GNP holds a majority of 168 seats in the 299-member unicameral parliament. Some reports have said that the party may push to pass the deal at a plenary session Thursday.

GNP leaders welcomed the move by some DP members.

“If the DP proposes a new round of negotiation talks with a new proposal, we will response to it and make best efforts to find a breakthrough,” Rep. Hwang Woo-yea, the GNP floor leader, said on a radio program.

“We will decide what steps to take once we watch how the proposal is received by DP leaders,” he added.

Rep. Nam Kyung-pil, the GNP member chairing a parliamentary trade committee, also said he is for a peaceful solution to the impasse.

“I highly appreciate a new move within the DP. I will try more to have dialogue,” he said, hinting that he would not push for a committee-level vote on the FTA for now.

Still, it remains to be seen how DP hardliners would react to the growing calls to compromise.

DP Chairman Rep. Sohn Hak-kyu, in his radio speech in the morning, renewed a call for the renegotiation of the trade deal.

“I ask for the public’s support on the DP so that we can re-negotiate the FTA with the U.S. and ratify a new deal in the 19th parliament,” he said.

The next parliament will be formed through a general election next April.

The Korea-U.S. FTA was initially signed in 2007, under the liberal administration of President Roh Moo-hyun. It was revised last December under the conservative President Lee Myung-bak administration after a renegotiation initiated at the request of the U.S.

Sohn claimed the balance of interest was swung in favor of the U.S. through the renegotiation.

The ISD mechanism, he insists, has the risk of jeopardizing Korea’s local policies for small firms and farmers. The clauses in question were included in the 2007 agreement.

“The U.S. government proposed us a renegotiation of the deal, after the Congress and industry associations demanded it. But the Korean government is just pushing for the deal’s ratification, ignoring opposition,” Sohn said.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)