hankyoreh

Yoo Myung-hee

Minister for Trade Kim Hyun-chong, who is currently directing negotiations on amendments for the South Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA), said on Jan. 8 that South Korean would adopt a negotiation principle of “no concessions that would hinder our technology development or hamstring future generations.”

Kim also said he would “approach the negotiations from the position that we’d rather have no deal than a bad deal.” His message was seen as reflecting a commitment to improving the investor-state dispute system (ISDS), which allows US companies to restrict South Korean public policy.

Meeting with reporters on Jan. 8 at the Sejong Government Complex, Kim discussed the first round of negotiations held in Washington on Jan. 5. “We discussed the ISDS and trade regulation-related issues as areas of interest, while the US stressed the importance of removing non-tariff barriers in the automobile sector,” he said.

Kim added that South Korea plans to “respond firmly with a World Trade Organization (WTO) complaint if [the US] attempts any measures that violate international norms.”

US President Donald Trump is expected to make a decision shortly on whether to implement safeguards on South Korean washing machines. Kim’s message was seen as indicating plans to protest to the WTO if the safeguards are introduced.

Kim also said negotiation team members were “instructed to ‘leave the table’ if the other side brought up any issues in the first round of amendment negotiations.”

“We plan to focus our capacities behind the goal of maximizing national benefits and balancing interests,” he said.

Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy trade policy bureau director-general Yoo Myung-hee, who visited the US as senior representative for the amendment negotiations, said that “all sorts of issues related to the automobile sector” were raised.

“As always, the devil is in the details,” she said, indicating that Seoul plans to look closely at the US’s demands for the sector.

By Choi Ha-yan, staff reporter

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