ISDS Case Map
Korea
Business leaders in South Korea and Japan need to play an active role in achieving a free trade agreement between the two countries, a Korean conglomerate owner said Thursday.
Thailand has reaffirmed that it did not sign the Asean-South Korean free trade agreement on goods because of rice. South Korea insisted on excluding rice under its sensitive list, but Thailand, the world's largest rice exporter, demanded that it open up its local market.
The US is a much better free-trade partner for Korea than China or Japan, where issues of race and historical animosities would make an agreement difficult, Korea's chief negotiator in free-trade talks with the US said Thursday.
The first draft statements of a free trade agreement exchanged by South Korea and the United States show "considerable differences" between the two sides, an agriculture ministry official said.
US labor groups will join forces with Korean counterparts for rallies in Washington early June against a proposed free trade agreement, the KCTU said yesterday.
Korea and the United States will start formal negotiations on a bilateral free trade accord in Washington on June 5. Flying to the US capital for the occasion are not only government delegates but also a contingent of about 100 demonstrators. Having heard much about Korean protesters' militancy, local police have reportedly entered a state of emergency.
Films from South Korea may not be as prominently featured in the program of the 59th Cannes Film Festival as in recent years, yet Korean cinema is garnering attention, thanks to the struggle by industry people to defend the screen quota system.
Korean activists will go ahead with their planned rallies in Washington to protest negotiations for a free trade agreement, ignoring the government's appeal for restraint.
The United States is "very optimistic" about clinching free trade agreements (FTAs) with major trading partners South Korea and Malaysia, a senior US official said.
The South Korean government on Friday urged a group of some 100 Koreans to refrain from staging a protest in Washington against the first round of negotiations for a free trade agreement with the US, to be held there on June 5-9.
