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TWN Info Service on Free Trade Agreements 14 July 2006
This week as negotiators from both the US and South Korea embark on their second round of talks to cobble up a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA), they were hounded by demonstrators who have hit the streets in the thousands to voice their protest against the FTA as they believe it will cause serious harm to the country. Today is the last day of the talks which started on Monday in Seoul. But demonstrators have started to make their presence felt a week before the talks began and have since held daily protests which came to a climax on Wednesday when they paralyzed the city by occupying major roads. The protestors, which numbered about 25,000 were led by a coalition of anti-FTA groups which brought together some 300 groups including the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union urging the government to walk away from the FTA talks. About 20,000 riot police were also deployed to deal with them. Though there are some scuffles and clashes, there were no serious injuries reported. Major roads leading to central Seoul were clogged all day long due to rain and rallies, and cars stood bumper-to-bumper late into the night in northern Seoul. The core of the anti-FTA alliance are farmers and film industry people, who will sustain the hardest blow from a Korea-U.S FTA. The Korean Alliance Against Korea-US FTA which represents 282 farmers’ organizations, labour unions and civic activist groups had been actively organizing rallies in the past week. They were joined by labour groups such as the Federation of Korean Trade Unions and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the American Federation of Labour and Congress of Industrial Organisations from the US, which in a press briefing on Monday claimed that the FTA will hurt employment and threaten the livelihoods of workers in both the US and Korea. About 1800 journalists and 600 dentists plan to stage protests in other parts of Seoul, joining the Alliance move. On 1 July, those working for the film industry including movie actors shouted slogans in the “Rally to Defend the Screen Quota System and Stop Korea-US FTA” held at Daehak-ro, Seoul. The demonstrators were angered by a South Korean government measure launched in January to essentially cut the number of domestic films local cinemas are required to show annually, a move long pressed for by the U.S. government and Hollywood. The US had made cutting the quota a prerequisite for launching free trade negotiations. Protesters harshly criticized the South Korean government for allegedly caving in to pressure from Washington. There is also concern of the effect the Korea-US FTA may have on access to medicine as the US is expected to seek intellectual property rights (IPR) protection similar to or that stronger than existing US IPR laws. Meanwhile, it was reported that negotiators from the US have boycotted discussions on medicines in an apparent protest against Seoul’s new drug-pricing move, which the US believe will put its pharmaceutical companies at a disadvantage. For months, U.S. pharmaceutical companies have protested against the South Korean government’s move in readjusting prices, aimed at offering quality medicines to the low-income class at an affordable price. On other areas, Korea and the US have agreed to establish a standing committee on sanitary standards for agricultural and food products, a compromise which some experts said will make it easier for US to ask for expanded trade of food and meat products, including genetically modified crops. The South Korean government also reiterated its pledge to exclude rice from the free trade talks with the US, one of the sensitive areas under consideration. However the top U.S. negotiator Wendy Cutler said ‘it's no secret that we will seek rice market access under this negotiations.’ References 1. Massive anti-FTA protests paralyze Seoul, 13 July 2006 (http://bilaterals.org/article.php3?id_article=5247) 2. US boycotts discussions on medicines in FTA talks with S Korea, 13 July 2006 (http://bilaterals.org/article.php3?id_article=5261) 3. Korean and US NGOs Position Paper on Public Health and IPR in the Korea-US FTA Negotiation, March 24. 2006 (http://nofta.jinbo.net/en/entry/Korean-and-US-NGOs-Position-Paper-on-Public-Health-and-IPR-in-the-Korea-US-FTA-Negotiation) 4. Protests to Intensify Over FTA, 10 July 2006 (http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200607/kt2006071017252810510.htm) 5. Government to Make Public Announcement on Korea-U.S. FTA, 6 July 2006 (http://www.ourworldisnotforsale.org/showarticle.asp?search=1671) 6. South Korean Actors Rally Against Movie Measure, 3 July 2006 (http://www.backstage.com/bso/news_reviews/film/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002765390) 7. Agreement scarce, dispute persists in S.K.-U.S. free trade talks, 13 July 2006 (http://bilaterals.org/article.php3?id_article=5258) 8. U.S. boycotts discussions on medicines in FTA talks with S. Korea , 13 July 2006 (Yonhap news), http://www.kfhr.org/board/view.php?id=eng_report&page=1&sn1=&divpage=1&sn=off&ss=on&sc=on&select_arrange=headnum&desc=asc&no=111 9. Protesters, riot police clash in S. Korea, BusinessWeek online, 13 July 2006, (http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8IQP7U86.htm?sub=apn_news_down&chan=db) Best wishes, Third World Network
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