South Korea, U.S. Try to Save Trade Deal

[HenryTo]

When it comes to protectionist sentiment, many of the Asian countries are definitely up there with the majority of Western European countries.
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South Korea, U.S. Try to Save Trade Deal
Sunday April 1, 12:57 pm ET
By Kelly Olsen, AP Business Writer
South Korea, U.S. Try to Save Proposed Free Trade Deal in Extended High-Level Talks

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korea and the United States raced against time Sunday to try to conclude a landmark free trade agreement as demonstrators took to the streets to denounce the effort, with a man setting himself on fire in protest.

"They're narrowing differences and they're working hard," Steve Norton, spokesman for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, said of the negotiators meeting for a seventh straight day at a Seoul hotel. "They're making progress." He did not elaborate.

If the negotiations succeed, the accord to slash tariffs and other trade barriers would be the biggest for Washington since the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993, and the biggest ever for South Korea.

After an all-night session Friday, the two sides said they needed more time, and agreed to finish the talks by 1 a.m. Monday in Seoul, corresponding to a noon Sunday deadline in Washington.

The original U.S.-imposed deadline was midnight Friday in Seoul.

Just outside the luxury hilltop hotel where negotiators met, passions were running high. A man shouted "Stop the Korea-U.S. FTA" after setting himself on fire. He was being treated in hospital for third-degree burns, police said.

Nearby, about 150 protesters, including farmers, students and activists, some wearing red or white headbands, denounced the talks, chanting "Down with the Roh Moo-hyun government," referring to South Korea's president.

A brief clash between some of the protesters and riot police carrying shields and truncheons erupted later, with one policeman falling to the ground with what appeared to be a bloody nose.

After dark, protesters gathered across town at a plaza in front of Seoul City Hall for a peaceful candlelight protest, holding signs and chanting slogans against the deal.

South Korean Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong and Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Karan Bhatia, as well as the chief negotiators for the two sides, have been meeting since Monday to bridge gaps in contentious sectors such as autos and agriculture.

Concern over the fate of the efforts, which began almost 10 months ago, was raised Friday when the White House said the talks were "not going well."

A USTR spokesman in Washington said Saturday that the U.S. must wrap up the deal by Sunday U.S. time, because that is the deadline to notify Congress that U.S. President George W. Bush intends to sign a deal under his expiring Trade Promotion Authority.

That special "fast track" power to submit trade agreements to Congress for straight yes-or-no votes without amendments expires on July 1, but due to legal requirements the agreement must be concluded 90 days in advance.

Norton said Sunday there would be no extension of the deadline for concluding the talks.

Any final deal would be subject to approval by both Congress and South Korea's National Assembly, though votes are unlikely for months.

South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reaffirmed their will to reach a deal in a phone conversation Sunday, South Korea's Foreign Ministry said.

The call followed a similar one Thursday, in which the two countries' presidents instructed negotiators to be as flexible as possible.

South Korea has refused to include its $9.1 billion rice market in a deal, saying the staple food is a "sensitive sector." Seoul has warned that it is ready to walk away from the talks if the U.S. pushes too hard.

Seoul's chief farm negotiator suggested Sunday that gaps between the two sides on agricultural issues may be narrowing.

"The U.S. side has paid great attention to our situation and position, and I believe their understanding has also been greatly raised," Min Dong-seok, deputy minister for trade at the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry, told reporters.

Other bottlenecks include trade in autos, Seoul's demand that goods made in a small North Korean industrial zone by South Korean companies be included, and the status of U.S. beef, absent from South Korean markets for more than three years after mad cow disease was discovered in the United States.

Officials on both sides say an agreement would boost economic ties between two longtime allies, which already do more than $75 billion in trade a year.

The deal's South Korean opponents -- who include labor, farm and activist groups -- say an influx of U.S. products would lead to job losses and damage livelihoods.

Protests in South Korea have dogged the negotiations. The biggest, in July, drew 25,000 people. Police fired water cannon at some of the demonstrators amid a monsoon downpour.

Last Sunday, 7,000 people rallied peacefully in front of the U.S. Embassy.

Associated Press writer Bo-mi Lim, AP photographer Jin-man Lee, AP Television News cameraman Yong-Ho Kim and producer Julie Choi contributed to this report.

[HenryTo]

One of the first casualties of the US-South Korea Free Trade Agreement: South Korean beef.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aNHEaTAEcCo8&refer=home

[HenryTo]

A presentation of the U.S. - South Korea FTA:

http://www.ustr.gov/assets/Document_Library/Fact_Sheets/2006/asset_upload_file650_8883.pdf