Controversy likely to roil parliamentary, presidential elections


Liberal opposition parties reiterated Wednesday their vow to revise or annul the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement, asking voters to deliver their verdict on the controversial deal in upcoming elections.

“It is regrettable that (the deal’s implementation schedule) was announced without sufficient consideration of the controversy here,” the main opposition Democratic United Party said in a statement after the Seoul and Washington governments fixed March 15 as the date when the deal comes into force.

“We ask voters to pass judgment on the current government which blatantly ignored our call for delay of the deal’s enforcement,” it said.

The DUP has demanded the government defer its implementation and hold a new round of negotiation with the U.S., arguing that the current deal is biased against Korea.

It also said that it would push to amend large parts of, or cancel, the pact, once it seizes control of the next parliament to be formed by the April 11 election. Polls so far have shown that the DUP is more likely to win the election than the ruling Saenuri Party.

Outside the parliament, left-leaning civic groups, holding a rally in downtown Seoul on Wednesday, vowed to kick off a public campaign to have the deal annulled, if it goes into effect.

The Korea-U.S. FTA is shaping up to be the most divisive election issue not only in the upcoming general elections but the presidential poll at the end of the year.

The deal, which would lift tariffs and other trade barriers between the world’s largest and 15th largest economies, is expected to boost large exporters, such as Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motors. It is feared to hurt many domestic industries, especially farming.

The bill to ratify the FTA was passed through the Korean parliament without opposition voting. DUP members were not present and a lawmaker of a far-left minority party member detonated a teargas canister inside the parliamentary chamber in protest.

The FTA issue, however, is providing the beleaguered ruling camp fodder with which to attack, and paint their opponents as opportunists who have switched their stance on key issues.

President Lee Myung-bak, speaking to reporters Wednesday, pointed out that opposition leaders are those who initiated the FTA with the U.S. under his liberal predecessor, the late President Roh Moo-hyun.

“It is regrettable to see how those who once pushed (for the deal) very aggressively and positively are now against it,” he said.

Park Geun-hye, interim chief of the Saenuri Party, also said earlier in the week that the opposition party is the one that should be judged by voters for its about-face on FTA.

Government officials, after announcing the deal’s implementation date, said they thought it serves national interests to put the pact into effect as early as possible despite the controversy.

The government said it plans to hold talks with the U.S. within three months of the deal’s coming into effect to discuss a set of clauses on investor-state dispute settlement mechanism, which opposition parties claim are “toxic” to Korea.

Lee, in his efforts to get the treaty ratified by the parliament, had promised that he would ask the U.S. to open talks to address public concerns here over the ISD clauses once the deal takes effect.

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