ISDS Case Map
Korea
The ruling and opposition parties are set to lock horns over the free trade agreement with the U.S. to be submitted for parliamentary ratification early next year. Rival parties have shown clear differences over the recently concluded accord.
South Korea and the United States finally reached an agreement after their intense renegotiations of free trade deal (KORUS FTA) on Friday.
It happened right after the signing of the Uruguay Round Agricultural Agreement on Dec. 15, 1993. At the time, opposition parties and farmers’ groups raised strenuous objections to the outcome of the negotiations. They asked the government if it was possible to enter new negotiations and revise the plan for market opening. They were asking for a bit more time for Korean farmers to prepare. The response from government officials was adamant: “Not a single dot or line can be revised.”
Korea and the United States have extended their talks on a pending free trade deal by at least one more day in a last-minute effort to reach an agreement.
Leaked diplomatic cables on WikiLeaks showed that the governments of South Korean and the United States have been working in tandem to push ahead the free trade agreement despite opposition from US business circles.
Free trade agreement (FTA) talks among China, Japan and the Republic of Korea could start in 2012 as the countries try to reduce reliance on the United States and the European Union, Yi Xiaozhun, vice-minister of commerce, told China Daily.
South Korea will focus on autos and is not ready to discuss beef during the upcoming talks with the United States for the ratification of a pending free trade deal, the chief South Korean trade negotiator said Monday.
It remains to be seen whether beef will continue to be the deal breaker.
South Korea, China and Japan will hold a third joint study meeting next week on the feasibility of a free trade agreement among the three Northeast Asian countries, Seoul's trade ministry said Wednesday.
The Korea FTA would lift live US hog prices by $10 per animal and generate an additional $687 million in US pork exports, the National Pork Producers Council argues.
