[National] State Scholars Voice Concern About Korea-US FTA
Scholars at state-funded research centers who specialize in the implementation of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the U.S. and Korea have criticized the Korean government’s approach to the liberal trade regime.
At a symposium held in Seoul yesterday, Kim Yang-hee and Chung Jun-ho, senior researchers at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP) and Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade (KIET), respectively, released a joint research paper titled “How to View Korea-US Free Trade Agreement.”
They said that an FTA without a clear purpose and or conviction of the benefits for all parties should not be rushed.
“A lesson of the financial crisis in 1997 is that a country must have the proper systems in place before opening its markets,” said the scholars. “However, under this administration, this FTA is proceeding at a radical pace and without taking into consideration this lesson.”
The KIEP specializes in researching the economic impact of FTAs. It is usually criticized for its government bias and research output that provides an overly rosy prospect of government-sponsored projects like the Korea-U.S. FTA. What is unusual about this case, however, is the rebellious stance that even KIEP researchers have taken by criticizing the Korean government for its lack of preparations.
“Despite the fact that vast differences between the U.S. and Korea make economic integration extremely difficult for the two countries, it continues to promote such a vision,” they said.
According to the research duo, lacking diplomatic and security perspectives, the government has treated the FTA as a purely trade issue and conducted negotiations accordingly. Finally, in its pursuit of the FTA, the government has ignored the issues raised by political and civic groups, constituting an undemocratic form of implementation.
Kim and Chung said that it would be more prudent for Korea to implement an FTA on a smaller scale, such as a Northeast Asia Free Trade Agreement, before pursuing something as large as an FTA with the U.S.
Given that the momentum of the U.S.-Korea FTA is so far advanced that it would be impossible to nullify the agreement. Nevertheless, Korea could better prepare itself by pursuing the Korea-Canada FTA and studying the western economic system in preparation for a U.S. agreement, the scholars noted.
In any case, such opposition from the government-sponsored KIEP is a significant statement attesting to the potential problems that the FTA would pose for this country, a senior economist who was present at the academic symposium said on condition of anonymity.
“In particular, it points to the lack of discussion and general consensus regarding the lack of coordination within the Korean government and the premature implementation of the FTA,” he said.
An Su-chan, ahn@hani.co.kr