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KAFT AND KOREA-US FTA IN THE MEDIA

“Forget the FTA Fix” by Christine Ahn and Martin Hart-Landsberg

The free-trade push has begun again. Both United States President Barack Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak are calling for ratification of the US-Korea free-trade agreement, which was signed by the two countries' trade representatives in April 2007 but has yet to be approved by either the US Congress or the South Korean parliament.

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Press Release, February 8, 2007:
U.S. and Korean Civil Society Voice Deep Concerns Over Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement

WASHINGTON, DC—February 8—As trade negotiations between the United States and South Korea enter its seventh and potentially final round before President Bush’s Trade Promotion Authority expires, U.S. and South Korean Civil Society will hold two public forums (Tues, Feb. 13 & Wed, Feb 14) to voice their deep concerns over the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement.

“A New Fast Track For Unfair Trade” by Christine Ahn

Trade representatives from the United States and South Korea are racing against the clock to sign the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement under the “fast track” deadline. With $72 billion dollars traded annually between the two countries, the KorUS FTA would become the second largest trade deal after the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). While such a trade deal would normally sail through the halls of the U.S. Congress and the Korean National Assembly, times have changed since the first free-trade regimes rolled into Washington, D.C., and Seoul...

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“Korea-US Trade Agreement Headed for Trouble” by Mark Winne

During a trip to South Korea this past autumn I had the opportunity to meet Choi Chan-Sick, a 66-year-old peasant farmer. I found him and his wife one day fastidiously raking a six-foot-wide swath of rice that lay drying along the road's breakdown lane. His face was deeply wrinkled and back permanently stooped from a lifetime bent in service to his two-hectare rice paddy. To start what I hoped would be a pleasant conversation, I asked him through my translator how the fall harvest was going. Figuring me correctly for an American, he hurled a volley of invective at me, the only words of which I could make out were "United States" and "FTA." My wincing translator later told me that he had deleted the expletives...

“Free Trade Is Over (if the people want it to be)” by Christine Ahn

The United States and South Korea are working around the clock to sign the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KorUS FTA), which would become the second largest trade deal after the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Wall Street corporations and South Korean chaebols are salivating at the opportunity to increase their portion of the 72 billion dollars in business the two countries trade annually...

“Postcard from Seoul” by Wol-san Liem

Since March 2006, the United States and South Korea have been straining to complete the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Both governments claim it will yield more jobs and cheaper goods, but South Koreans are highly suspicious. Half the South Korean population is against the FTA, especially workers and farmers who have seen trade agreements like NAFTA lead to job flight, decaying rural communities, and increased social polarization. But what really unites Koreans against the FTA is the undemocratic nature of the negotiations process and the threat to Korea's national sovereignty. As the FTA talks recently entered their sixth round, protests in the capital Seoul have been intense. Despite a government ban, thousands took to the streets to demonstrate for an entire week...