hankyoreh

With the deadline approaching to conclude talks on the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between South Korea and the U.S., Korean farmers, civic groups, and other protesters planned to continue voicing their opposition to a ratification of the trade pact between the two countries.

The ‘Korea Alliance of KorUS FTA’ is an umbrella civic organization at the forefront of the protest. "We will take the lead in urging the government to disclose what has been discussed and will work to nullify the outcome of the talks," said Park Seok-un, an executive official of the organization. "We will also pursue a referendum to ask the public their opinion regarding the FTA, and make efforts to push the current administration to resign altogether."

Other civic groups will also follow suit by publicizing the anticipated adverse effects that the Seoul-Washington FTA will have on individual industrial sectors. "Since the negotiations have been underway without public consensus, the talks themselves are not valid," a farming organization official said. "We will double the strength of our protest against the deal."

Woo Seok-gyun, an official at the Korean Federation of Medical Groups for Health Rights, blamed the government for giving in too much and gaining nothing in return, which he fears will increase the financial burden felt by individuals paying for health insurance and by the national health insurance system. "The government will have an uphill battle in getting the FTA ratified in the National Assembly," he added.

Those in the movie industry echoed this opposition. "We will have a meeting of industry officials next weekend to devise countermeasures," said an official of a protest group from the film industry. "There are many directors, actors, and actresses opposing the deal," the official continued. "They will all join efforts to oppose the parliamentary ratification of the trade pact."

Film industry workers want the Korean government to keep in place the so-called ‘screen quota,’ which guarantees a certain amount of playing time for Korean films on domestic screens; the U.S. has been pushing for a partial or full elimination of this quota.

Meanwhile, the Korean government, which has kept mum about the proceedings, is under mounting pressure to disclose the details of the FTA negotiations that have been underway for the past ten months.

Baik Seung-heon, the head of Lawyers for a Democratic Society, said, "The negotiations have failed to follow democratic procedures from the start to the finish...We will make an immediate demand for disclosure of what has been negotiated and take measures after finding out what impact the outcome of the talks will have on our domestic laws, and whether the deal will contain unconstitutional sections."

Lee Tae-ho, an official of the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, said, "We find the negotiations unfair, as South Korea didn’t gain anything in return for compromises in almost all areas." "We will demand the government to disclose what it has talked about and pursue a public hearing for lawmakers and civic groups to review the outcome," he added.

Anti-FTA groups and protestors said they will hold the government responsible for "unfair trade negotiations," and will demand explanations and answers to questions surrounding the ten-month-long trade talks.

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