Yonhap 2007/09/10
Lawmakers seek probe of free trade deal with U.S.
SEOUL, Sept. 10 (Yonhap) -- A non-partisan group of 82 lawmakers filed a request with the National Assembly Monday, asking for a parliamentary probe of a free trade deal between South Korea and the United States which awaits legislative approval in both countries.
The move comes after Prime Minister Han Duck-soo submitted the free trade agreement (FTA) with the world's biggest economy to the 299-member National Assembly last week for ratification.
"The statement made by Prime Minister Han does not mention what practical benefits the FTA would yield to us, nor does it contain countervailing measures to ameliorate side effects of the deal," said a statement released by the lawmakers.
The deal, agreed on in April after nearly a year of negotiations between the two countries, needs approval from both legislative bodies to take effect.
"We officially file a request for a parliamentary investigation to thoroughly verify whether the negotiations catered to our national interests," said the statement.
Threatening to scuttle the ambitious deal, some of the lawmakers accused the government of bowing to U.S. demands and making arbitrary decisions over a pact that could largely affect the lives of Koreans.
"The government has precipitously pushed for an FTA and appeared unprepared even at the moment it submitted the deal to the National Assembly," said Rep. Im Jong-in, an independent lawmaker.
The FTA would eliminate tariffs and other trade barriers on a broad range of products between South Korea and the U.S. whose bilateral trade amounted to US$80 billion last year alone.
In a public announcement on Friday, Premier Han said the FTA would be a "touchstone" for the South Korean economy and help improve its global competitiveness, a justification often cited during the negotiations that alternately took place in the two countries.
Despite predictions that the agreement would increase bilateral trade by up to $29 billion and spill over to the political domain by strengthening the decades-old alliance, trade experts have warned the deal may not be passed by the National Assembly by the end of this year.
The Democrat-controlled U.S. Congress has also criticized the deal with South Korea, calling the Republican-driven deal a failure to guarantee fair access to South Korea's automobile market.
The deal has particularly sparked anger among South Korean farmers as it was seen as likely to open up the country's agricultural markets.
South Korea currently has FTAs in place with Chile, Singapore, the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) excluding Thailand, and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), an economic bloc that includes Switzerland and Norway. It is also pushing talks with Canada and the European Union (EU), South Korea's second-largest trading partner with two-way trade reaching $79 billion in 2006.
