hankyoreh

The National Assembly has come under fire for its alleged lack of preparation concerning the South Korean-U.S. free trade agreement (FTA) talks, the first round of which was completed in Washington last week. The Assembly has said it would set up a special committee to deal with FTA issues.

The decision to set up a special Assembly panel came after the governing party was briefed of the results of the first round of FTA talks at a special meeting on the subject yesterday. Rep. Kang Bong-kyun, chief policy maker of the party, and Trade Minister Kim Hyun-jong participated in the meeting.

"We are going to establish an FTA panel within the party" after the half-term reshuffling of the Assembly is complete, organization of the Assembly for the second half of its four-year term is completed, Rep. Song Young-gil of the Uri Party said at the meeting. Mr. Song said he expected both ruling and opposition camps to organize the special panel "and cope with the FTA intensively."

The ruling Uri Party initially said it would create a special National Assembly panel on FTA issues as late as four months after the government officially declared the opening of the talks in February. The main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) has not made any moves regarding the formation of the committee.

Rep. Song said, "The ruling and opposition parties will cooperate to correct or supplement the parts of negotiation [which need further analysis] while keeping secret the contents of the talks through the formation of a special panel." However, he said, "the problem of creating a special Assembly panel should be discussed by floor leaders of each party; therefore, serious discussion of the matter will be possible only after the Assembly reconfiguration."

The mid-term National Assembly reorganization is expected to be completed June 20.

Rep. Lee Sang-kyeong of the Uri Party noted, "A few legislators have maintained the necessity of setting up a special panel since March, but both the governing and opposition camps were completely engaged in the May 31 regional elections." Rep. Lee also urged the creation of a special committee with the cooperation of both parties.

Leading up to the first round of FTA negotiations in Washington early this month, the U.S. established a dialogue channel shortly after the declaration of the FTA negotiations. In addition, a U.S. presidential advisory committee on trade policies and negotiation submitted a comprehensive report to the U.S. Congress in April regarding free trade issues with South Korea. As well, Congress appointed a special supervisory group to observe the FTA negotiations.

On the contrary, the National Assembly of South Korea held a few separate forums in which lawmakers offered their opinions on the free trade negotiations.

An Uri Party legislator said, "During the first round of FTA negotiations in Washington, the Korean delegates had to learn the results of the negotiations through the media because there was no one deployed to the talks by the Assembly." He added, "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade should break from its old ways, such as reporting information over supper only with certain figures favored by the ministry. The Foreign Ministry seemingly stresses consultation between the political parties and the government, but in fact it did not disclose the entire contents of the negotiations."

The National Assembly was also chided by critics for not deploying experts belonging to related standing committees, not to mention a liaison officer, to the first round of official negotiations.