Seoul National University president opposes Korea-US FTA
“U.S. stands to gain, Korea to lose when the FTA pact is in effect.”
Seoul National University president Cheong Woon-chan said he opposed the possible signing of a free trade agreement (FTA) between South Korea and the United States as it currently stands.
In a June 15 interview with the Hankyoreh, Dr. Cheong, one of the nation¡?s premier economic researchers and head of the Korean Economic Association, said, ¡°At present, the U.S. stands to gain much greater benefit” from the terms of the FTA, calling the FTA’s present incarnation an integration of the South Korean economy into that of the United States, an economy 20 times as large.
“South Korea could see a loss, not a gain,¡± Dr. Cheong said.
¡°The idea of hastily integrating the two economies seems dangerous, given the deep economic ties between South Korea and the U.S.,¡± Dr. Cheong said. He accused his government of applying pressure to speed along the talks for the FTA without providing any persuasive research on the possible aftermath of the integration of the markets.
While the government of President Roh Moo-hyun has committed itself to carrying out a set of economic policies based on neoliberalism, Dr. Cheong said, and has emphasized an importance of redistribution of wealth between haves and have-nots, there is no such redistribution in the context of pure neoliberalist theory. Dr. Cheong defined neoliberalism as a Western ideology promoting the principle of laissez-faire market economics, which emphasizes that market forces driven by individual self-interest will balance everything out. He said this notion promotes a winner-takes-all sentiment.
Meanwhile, plans to transform Seoul National University into a corporate structure were recently completed, Dr. Cheong said, adding that if the plans went through, “Seoul National University will become both a private university and a large company.¡± The plans include measures for the university to remove itself from government control in areas of budget, organization, and human resources. Under the plans, professors and employees would forfeit their status as public servants under the national government. The university¡?s decision-making process would be divided between the president, the board of directors, and a committee of professors.