South Korea

Opposition blocks US trade deal

Article published on the 2008-05-20 Latest update 2008-06-01 11:36 TU

South Koreans protest at US beef imports last year
(Photo: Reuters)

South Korea's United Democratic Party (UDP) has blocked a free trade deal with the US. The government had hoped that the deal would be ratified this month to encourage US legislators to pass it but the UDP wants renegotiation of a controversial deal on beef imports as the price for its votes. President Lee Myung-Bak met UDP leader Sohn Hak-Kyu to press for acceptance of the free trade agreement (FTA).

But Sohn demanded that the beef deal be revised, even though it's already been signed.

That pact was a US precondition for the FTA but it gave rise to street protests, amid charges that it could mean the spread of mad cow disease to Korea.

The government hoped to win agreement for the FTA in May. The present parliament ends its four-year term this weekend and Lee's Grand National Party (GNP) will have a majority in the new parliament. But a summer break means that it will now have to wait at least three months for the FTA to be agreed. 

The FTA has also inspired protest in South Korea and Democrats in Washington are refusing to accept the deal, citing barriers to US auto imports as one of their reasons.

East Asian expert Chris Hughes, at Britain's Warwick University, believes that South Korea has made many concessions to the US.

"It's has to liberalise not just some of its markets for industrial products, such as autos and so on," he says. "But also it's going to have to agree to a whole wide sweeping range of changes that the United States would like to see in terms of investment, the banking sector, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, health care, labour standards and so on."