hankyoreh

Park Hee-tae

The Grand National Party is currently weighing pros and cons in anticipation of the National Assembly’s ratification of the Free Trade Agreement between South Korea and the United States. There is a close contest between arguments for early resolution, which suggest resolving the issue prior to the U.S. presidential election in November, and the argument for circumspection, which advocates waiting to examine the situation after the election before resolving the issue.

At a meeting of its top council held October 2 at GNP headquarters in Yeouido, GNP leadership expressed divergent opinions. Party chairman Park Hee-tae and supreme council member Chung Mong-joon sided with the argument for circumspection. According to participants, Park said that it was first necessary to establish a plan for farmers and fishermen negatively affected by the signing of a South Korea-U.S. FTA, and suggested discussing the issue of passing the FTA after looking at the government’s countermeasures. Chung noted that U.S. Democratic Party candidate Barack Obama currently opposes the South Korea-U.S. FTA, and said that if Obama is elected after resolution of the FTA, the possibility of him doing away with the agreement altogether could not be discounted. Chung proposed resolving the matter only up to the standing committee and waiting on resolution with the plenary session.

But leaders within the National Assembly are arguing for an early resolution of the matter. Floor leader Hong Joon-pyo is reported to have said that the United States could propose renegotiations in the area of automobiles, which they feel is disadvantageous to themselves, following the election, and that it is necessary to finalize approval of the FTA ratification before the U.S. election and place pressure on the United States. Chief policymaker Im Tae-hee appeared that day on the Buddhist Broadcasting System radio show “Yu Yong-hwa’s Morning Journal” and said that because South Korea negotiated the FTA according to its needs, it needs to carry out the procedure. Strategy planning bureau head Lee Myung-gyu said that the probability that the United States will demand renegotiations in the area of automobiles is high regardless if the U.S. election is won by Obama or U.S. Republican party candidate John McCain, and that South Korea should ratify the FTA first to avoid giving the United States a pretext for finding fault with it.

Opinions also clashed October 1 at a forum called the “Wednesday Discussion” held by the GNP’s policy planning committee. Assemblyman Kwon Taeg-ky said that it is dangerous for South Korea to turn the question into a matter for public debate at a time when the United States has not yet determined that they with ratify the trade agreement. He indicated that the Foreign Ministry, which lost considerable trust from citizens in the process of pursuing the FTA, should engage in deep reflection. In contrast, Assemblyman Yoon Sang-hyun said the political burden can only be shifted to the United States after South Korea quickly passes the agreement.

Meanwhile, internal discord is deepening over the relaxation of regulations in the capital region and balanced development in localities. The dispute, which originated between Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Moon-soo and South Chungcheong Province Governor Lee Wan-gu, has spread as Assembly members have divided into those from the capital region and those in other areas.

Yeouido Institute head Kim Seong-jo, originally from Gumi in Gyeongsangbuk-do, wrote in an essay entitled “The Republic of Korea is a democratic republic, not a capital region republic” that while Governor Kim said in an interview with the press that blood does not circulate if the heart is bound, if things continue the way they are now it is only the heart of the capital region that will become fat, while the veins leading to areas outside of the region will become weak and the Republic of Korea will be sentenced to death by cardiac arrest and stroke. He also expressed profound concerns about Governor Kim’s carpet-bombing of reckless statements. Previously, Assemblyman Lee Ke-jin, originally from Wonju in Gangwon Province, directly refuted comments by Assemblyman Cha Myeong-jin, who represents Sosa District, Bucheon City, Gyeonggi Province, that the core breakthrough for reviving the economy without costing money is the abolition of factory regulations in the capital region, saying that Cha should immediately leave off making statements that amount to self-serving plans for national division.

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