Post by unlawflcombatnt on Jul 12, 2006 23:47:36 GMT -6
The Bush dictatorship is apparently working on another "free trade" deal with none other than North Korea. This "deal" was initially described in the Wall Street Journal, and reported by David Sirota at his site. Sirota writes:
"The broad strokes are simple: the Bush administration and both parties in Congress are considering signing a 'free' trade pact with South Korea that would cover a special project in North Korea that allows Big Money interests to exploit the enslaved people there.
This proposed deal goes beyond the other awful trade deals that we've watched the Bush administration and Congress consider recently - it goes beyond the job-destroying Central American Free Trade Agreement and even beyond the proposed trade pact with Malaysia, a country that prohibits a minimum wage. This trade pact 'would be the U.S.'s largest pact since the North American Free Trade Agreement passed Congress more than a decade ago.' The Journal story, of course, is filled with hedging. No one wants to come out and say this is what the trade negotiations are all about, or that they really want this North Korea piece - even though its obvious Big Money is salivating for it. What they want is the issue to go back into the background and get quietly passed without anyone noticing. They would rather the public ignore the effort to validate the "joint-venture Kaesong industrial complex in North Korea" that "combines South Korean capital with North Korean labor" (read: combines multinational corporate cash with exploitable slaves). By the time the complex is in full operation in 2012, "it could employ more than 750,000 North Koreans" – again, North Koreans who are literally enslaved and barred from leaving their prison...."
"But even beyond the geopolitical implications are the implications for American workers – and workers all over the globe. Even considering this atrocious pact lays bare what our government sees our "free" trade as: a vehicle for driving wages, workplace standards, environmental protections and standards of living into the ground in order to pad Big Money's bottom line. Such a deal would force the world’s workers to compete with slave labor. It would rewarding a dictator like Kim Jong Il in that it would create a premium for corporations to exploit his enslaved population. The fact that this is even being talked about as a legitimate consideration inside our governemnt tells you everything you need to know about the hostile takeover of our government by Big Money interests."
This article by David Sirota can be found at:
www.workingforchange.com/blog/index.cfm?mode=entry&entry=5E9CCC62-E0C3-F090-AE20962AF2B6395B
Other articles provide still further evidence of the massive worker exploitation proposed.
From "bilaterals.org" comes the following information:
"March 6 (Bloomberg) — North Korean workers stitching Made in Korea labels on $150 sneakers may hold the key to a $29 billion free-trade agreement between the U.S. and South Korea, the biggest U.S. accord in a decade.
The 6,000 North Koreans, working 48-hour weeks for 1/20th of the pay of their southern colleagues, are churning out pots, sneakers and clothes in a South Korean-funded business park just north of the demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas.
South Korea’s government is counting on free-trade status to help lure local and overseas companies to the park near Gaeseong, an ancient capital of united Korea. The U.S. says goods made north of the DMZ won’t qualify for special treatment.
``The free-trade agreement must be expanded to include Gaeseong products,’’ said Kim Dong Keun, chairman of the park’s management committee, in Gaeseong. ``I understand that nothing has been set in stone. The matter is still up for negotiation.’’"
"The U.S. last year exported $29 billion of goods to South Korea and bought $43 billion of Korean imports, according to the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The U.S. is the country’s third-largest trading partner.
``The starting point is that an FTA applies to goods originating in the U.S. and the Republic of Korea,’’ Alexander Vershbow, the U.S. ambassador to South Korea, said at a seminar with economists in Seoul on Feb. 14. ``How Gaeseong is treated under the free-trade agreement is going to be a complex issue...’’"
"South Korean Trade Minister Kim Hyun Chong said at a Feb. 2 press conference with U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman in Washington that his government expects goods made in Gaeseong to be part of the trade deal. Portman said the agreement would only cover goods produced in South Korea"
That's what Portman said in March at least.
Later in the article it mentions that the North Korean government is paid roughly $50 PER MONTH for each worker.
$50 per month?!?!! They're working 48 hour work weeks.
That's 26 CENTS PER HOUR!!!
Is this slavery, or what?
The link to the article is at:
www.bilaterals.org/article.php3?id_article=4003
"The broad strokes are simple: the Bush administration and both parties in Congress are considering signing a 'free' trade pact with South Korea that would cover a special project in North Korea that allows Big Money interests to exploit the enslaved people there.
This proposed deal goes beyond the other awful trade deals that we've watched the Bush administration and Congress consider recently - it goes beyond the job-destroying Central American Free Trade Agreement and even beyond the proposed trade pact with Malaysia, a country that prohibits a minimum wage. This trade pact 'would be the U.S.'s largest pact since the North American Free Trade Agreement passed Congress more than a decade ago.' The Journal story, of course, is filled with hedging. No one wants to come out and say this is what the trade negotiations are all about, or that they really want this North Korea piece - even though its obvious Big Money is salivating for it. What they want is the issue to go back into the background and get quietly passed without anyone noticing. They would rather the public ignore the effort to validate the "joint-venture Kaesong industrial complex in North Korea" that "combines South Korean capital with North Korean labor" (read: combines multinational corporate cash with exploitable slaves). By the time the complex is in full operation in 2012, "it could employ more than 750,000 North Koreans" – again, North Koreans who are literally enslaved and barred from leaving their prison...."
"But even beyond the geopolitical implications are the implications for American workers – and workers all over the globe. Even considering this atrocious pact lays bare what our government sees our "free" trade as: a vehicle for driving wages, workplace standards, environmental protections and standards of living into the ground in order to pad Big Money's bottom line. Such a deal would force the world’s workers to compete with slave labor. It would rewarding a dictator like Kim Jong Il in that it would create a premium for corporations to exploit his enslaved population. The fact that this is even being talked about as a legitimate consideration inside our governemnt tells you everything you need to know about the hostile takeover of our government by Big Money interests."
This article by David Sirota can be found at:
www.workingforchange.com/blog/index.cfm?mode=entry&entry=5E9CCC62-E0C3-F090-AE20962AF2B6395B
Other articles provide still further evidence of the massive worker exploitation proposed.
From "bilaterals.org" comes the following information:
"March 6 (Bloomberg) — North Korean workers stitching Made in Korea labels on $150 sneakers may hold the key to a $29 billion free-trade agreement between the U.S. and South Korea, the biggest U.S. accord in a decade.
The 6,000 North Koreans, working 48-hour weeks for 1/20th of the pay of their southern colleagues, are churning out pots, sneakers and clothes in a South Korean-funded business park just north of the demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas.
South Korea’s government is counting on free-trade status to help lure local and overseas companies to the park near Gaeseong, an ancient capital of united Korea. The U.S. says goods made north of the DMZ won’t qualify for special treatment.
``The free-trade agreement must be expanded to include Gaeseong products,’’ said Kim Dong Keun, chairman of the park’s management committee, in Gaeseong. ``I understand that nothing has been set in stone. The matter is still up for negotiation.’’"
"The U.S. last year exported $29 billion of goods to South Korea and bought $43 billion of Korean imports, according to the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The U.S. is the country’s third-largest trading partner.
``The starting point is that an FTA applies to goods originating in the U.S. and the Republic of Korea,’’ Alexander Vershbow, the U.S. ambassador to South Korea, said at a seminar with economists in Seoul on Feb. 14. ``How Gaeseong is treated under the free-trade agreement is going to be a complex issue...’’"
"South Korean Trade Minister Kim Hyun Chong said at a Feb. 2 press conference with U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman in Washington that his government expects goods made in Gaeseong to be part of the trade deal. Portman said the agreement would only cover goods produced in South Korea"
That's what Portman said in March at least.
Later in the article it mentions that the North Korean government is paid roughly $50 PER MONTH for each worker.
$50 per month?!?!! They're working 48 hour work weeks.
That's 26 CENTS PER HOUR!!!
Is this slavery, or what?
The link to the article is at:
www.bilaterals.org/article.php3?id_article=4003