hankyoreh

Lee Joung-woo, Kyungbook University professor and former Chairman of the Presidential Commission on Policy Planning

In Washington over the weekend, the Korean and United States’ governments officially signed the free trade agreement. Now all that is left is the National Assembly’s ratification vote. The speed with which this has taken place has been incredible, since the document was signed just a year and a half after talks began. There is an expression that says, ‘‘Speed ruins the spirit.’’ You worry that what they think is going well now is something we could regret in a big way later.

Korea’s agricultural and pharmaceutical industries will suffer significantly if this FTA takes effect, but it is far more unclear what the benefits will be. The Korean public is applauding the deal because they think the country will export a few more automobiles and some more textiles and might see an increase in jobs, but the problem is not so simple. The U.S. agreed to lowering tariffs, but it is not taking down strong retaliatory weapons like its anti-dumping tariffs. The FTA, were it ratified, would involve socioeconomic restructuring and so a social safety net would be a prerequisite. In this sense, Korea and the U.S., both countries that lack social safety nets, are countries ill-prepared to form a free trade pact. There is a huge tsunami coming in from the Pacific, but the breakwater is as shabby as can be.

The Korean government says it is a choice between opening the country’s markets or national isolation, but that is a misleading way to perceive the situation. Opening the country is generally a good thing, but the government certainly knows that this requires a modulation of scope and speed. A free trade pact with the U.S. is fundamentally unlike one with any other country. This FTA would not be limited to trade, and would require changes in Korea’s institutional procedures, policies and laws. The weapon used will be that fearful device, the investor-state claim system. Compare for a moment the fact that this weapon has been entirely excluded from FTA talks with the European Union. Regrettably, investor-state claims stand in front of us like the head of a poisonous snake. The government tells us that the number of cases will not be that many, but it would be wrong not to be concerned. It will have to think of the U.S. with regard to all of its policies and have a so-called ‘‘chilling effect,’’ meaning that everything will move towards the American model.

The U.S. is demanding that the two countries’ economies be deeply integrated through a commerce agreement. Korea has agreed and signed the deal accordingly, meaning that our economic framework is going to become Americanized. However, is the U.S. economy a desirable model? The fact that it is not is the problem. Its fatal flaw is socioeconomic disparity; the exacerbation of economic disparity in Korea should the FTA take effect would be like watching the inevitable result of a fire. Socioeconomic disparity has steadily increased in the U.S. during the last 30 years. Disparity is something born of the American economic system. There are countries that have achieved high economic growth while enjoying greater equality than the U.S. - why does Korea bet its destiny on the American model? Moreover, no Korean person would tell you that it is okay to decide the country’s fate via a commerce treaty with another country.

The ‘‘Participatory Government’’ of Roh Moo-hyun has, over the last four years, worked in its own way to overcome a culture where ‘‘growth is everything’’ and ‘‘the market rules above all,’’ and I praise it for its efforts. The results have been a greater emphasis on harmony between growth, the re-distribution of wealth and the role of the public sector. Now, however, it is saying that it is suddenly going to trash that philosophy and go back to the familiar priorities of growth and the market. Put simply, it has turned to the right, and there ahead lies the cliff. Right now what is right for Korea is a greater turn towards the left. It is the Scandinavian social democratic model that has been judged the best of all the market economy experiments the human race has experienced so far. In public opinion surveys as well, it is the Scandinavian model that Koreans say they like the most. Though of course it would be difficult to move to that model right away, we should be gazing toward Scandinavia to get there. A free trade agreement with the U.S. means we are going to go in the wrong direction.

At its essence, the FTA with the U.S. will be about giving up our dreams for an ideal society and deciding our country’s destiny based on an American model that is inhumane and promotes socioeconomic disparity. Right now, Korea’s fate is dangerously perched in front of a huge Pacific tsunami. So far, a minority of patriots have stood up to oppose it and held protests, but it has been like throwing eggs against a crag. Even if it only starts to happen now, the people need to see the national crisis for what it is and do all they can to see to it that the National Assembly votes against ratifying this FTA. Whether the dreams disappear or whether we dream again is a question now on the shoulders of the people.