Post by unlawflcombatnt on Mar 26, 2007 2:48:10 GMT -6
It appears the people of South Korea are just as "enthusiastic" as Americans are about "free" trade. And it appears their government is no more concerned about the "will of the people" than the U.S. government is. Below are excerpts from a Yahoo News article titled South Korea-U.S. Free-Trade Plan Decried
"Sunday March 25, 3:54 pm ET
By Kelly Olsen, AP Business Writer
Thousands Denounce South Korea-U.S. Free Trade Plans As Negotiations Intensify....
South Korea and the United States have been trying since June to strike a deal which officials say would boost economic ties between two countries that already do more than $75 billion in trade.
Protests in South Korea have dogged the negotiations since they began. Opponents fear an influx of cheaper U.S. goods will harm livelihoods and cost jobs.
"I think (the) the FTA will make it easier to fire workers," said Kim Yu-ri, a sociology major at elite Seoul National University, who was protesting Sunday.
The two governments need to wrap up an agreement by March 31 because of the approaching end of U.S. President George W. Bush's trade promotion authority, which allows him to send trade agreements to Congress for straight yes-or-no votes without amendments.
Even if a deal is struck this week, votes to ratify it are not expected for months. South Korean lawmakers would also need to approve any final deal....
Among the issues dividing the two sides is South Korea's rice market, which Seoul has vowed to exclude from any final free trade deal, and U.S. beef imports, absent from South Korea for more than three years after mad cow disease was discovered in the United States in 2003.
Associated Press Writer Bo-Mi Lim contributed to this report"
The full article can be found at
biz.yahoo.com/ap/070325/skorea_us_free_trade.html?.v=7
"Sunday March 25, 3:54 pm ET
By Kelly Olsen, AP Business Writer
Thousands Denounce South Korea-U.S. Free Trade Plans As Negotiations Intensify....
South Korea and the United States have been trying since June to strike a deal which officials say would boost economic ties between two countries that already do more than $75 billion in trade.
Protests in South Korea have dogged the negotiations since they began. Opponents fear an influx of cheaper U.S. goods will harm livelihoods and cost jobs.
"I think (the) the FTA will make it easier to fire workers," said Kim Yu-ri, a sociology major at elite Seoul National University, who was protesting Sunday.
The two governments need to wrap up an agreement by March 31 because of the approaching end of U.S. President George W. Bush's trade promotion authority, which allows him to send trade agreements to Congress for straight yes-or-no votes without amendments.
Even if a deal is struck this week, votes to ratify it are not expected for months. South Korean lawmakers would also need to approve any final deal....
Among the issues dividing the two sides is South Korea's rice market, which Seoul has vowed to exclude from any final free trade deal, and U.S. beef imports, absent from South Korea for more than three years after mad cow disease was discovered in the United States in 2003.
Associated Press Writer Bo-Mi Lim contributed to this report"
The full article can be found at
biz.yahoo.com/ap/070325/skorea_us_free_trade.html?.v=7