ISDS Case Map
Korea
Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said Tuesday that his government will not renegotiate the free trade agreement (FTA) with the US, even if the US government requests it.
The most significant constraint in FTA negotiations is not international negotiation between two governments, but domestic negotiation with various domestic constituencies, such as organized farmers and labor, the national assembly, NGOs, etc. This paper analyzes the domestic conflicts that arise in FTA negotiations in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly focusing on the US, Japan, China and Korea.
South Korea's top business organization on Monday urged the government to swiftly start free trade talks with Australia, saying a deal would be in the interest of both sides.
A senior South Korean official warned Wednesday that the free trade deal with the United States could collapse if Washington "unilaterally" urges Seoul to revise it to reflect new US policy guidelines.
The Congressional Research Service, the research arm of the United States Congress, concluded in a recent report that the establishment of a "Committee on Outward Processing Zones on the Korean Peninsula" was a concession on the part of the US from its stance on products produced in North Korea, but that American negotiators yielded nothing of substance in free trade talks with South Korea.
South Korea and Australia will begin a joint study this year to explore a free trade agreement, a senior trade official said Wednesday.
South Korea hopes to wrap up a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with India by December 2007. The CEPA would encompass trade in goods and services and investment.
Korea and the European Union have finished their first round of free trade talks. They have agreed to the basic principle of eliminating tariffs on 95 percent of all their products and on industrial products in ten years. We hope to see these negotiations be prudent and thoroughly about looking after Korea's interest, which was not the case with FTA talks with the United States, which were forced through by a ticking clock set by the other side.
Washington plans to demand renegotiations on several areas of the Korea-US free trade agreement (FTA) signed on April 2, according to US media reports.
The Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development last week delivered materials to local educational offices to encourage them to promote the Korea-U.S. FTA, a move which has brought criticism from Korea's teachers' union, which says the move is biased and one-sided in nature.
