[Editorial] KORUS FTA, All the More Important in the Nuke Crisis

The fourth round of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement negotiations is scheduled for the day after tomorrow in Jeju. In the face of the North Korea nuclear crisis, FTA deals take on a greater importance than ever for relations between the two countries along with a bilateral military alliance.

A North Korea nuclear standoff not only weakens investor and consumer confidence, but also fuels the possibility of foreign capital flight because concerns over political uncertainties on the peninsular could spill over to the global market. Against this backdrop, a fast conclusion of the KORUS FTA will contribute to solidifying a bilateral alliance and revitalizing foreign investment by addressing economic uncertainties.

In this sense, Seoul’s attempt to include products made in the Gaesong Industrial Complex in the FTA should not impede the negotiations. With growing suspicions that Pyongyang’s nuclear program is financed by Mount Geumgang tours and the Gaesong Industrial Complex, demanding the U.S. to cut tariffs on products made in the North is unrealistic.

Recently, the “National Council for an Advanced Nation,” a center-right civic group, released a rebuttal to the “Anti-FTA report” by the “Korean Alliance against KORUS FTA (KoA),” saying that the group’s argument that an FTA would exacerbate social polarization is absolutely untrue and groundless. Among anti-KORUS FTA advocates are potential victims of market opening or anti-globalization activists, but there are also a number of pro-North anti-U.S. demagogues. Reportedly members of KoA threatened unarmed soldiers with clubs in protests against the construction of the U.S. army base in Pyeongtaek. Some pro-North leaders cheered North Korea’s nuclear possession.

KoA leadership is also said to be readying itself for a mass rally in November, extending even further from its anti-FTA protests. Such leaders are those who chanted that KORUS FTA is a “de facto transfer of national sovereignty” or that a successful conclusion of the deal would mean “10 million won for an appendectomy.” Some of them ridiculously insisted that the FTA ruins public education in Korea and that poor people cannot go to school.

It is in national interest to stand firm in dealing with the KORUS FTA against such irresponsible and ideological propaganda.