KBS, Korea
'Congress Unlikely to Ratify FTA This Yr'
11 October 2008
Ambassador to Washington Lee Tae-sik says if the U.S. Congress fails to ratify the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement this year, the effort would resume after 2010.
In a parliamentary inquiry of the Korean embassy in Washington, he said that last month the Congress passed in an overwhelming majority a tentative budget plan effective through March, which has made endorsing the FTA after next month's U.S. presidential election and within this year very difficult.
He said if the Democrats take office in January, the FTA agenda must be presented and discussed over again, which Lee says will take about a year. He said congressional efforts to ratify the trade accord will then begin by 2010.
He said the U.S. financial crisis has worsened conditions for the ratification ahead of the election, and that the Congress is reluctant on trade issues sensitive to labor unions. He noted that the Democratic leadership is even against voting on the FTA.
