hankyoreh

Soprano Jo Sumi

The South Korean government is reportedly considering filing a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the Chinese government for adopting a series of punitive measures in response to Seoul and Washington’s plans to deploy the THAAD missile defense system with US forces in South Korea. For Seoul to actually play the WTO lawsuit card could create a backlash, since this would make official Seoul’s plans to treat its conflict with China over the THAAD deployment as a trade dispute.

“We’re working with several relevant ministries to explore various countermeasures. While it wouldn’t be appropriate to discuss the details, this will obviously include a review of international law,” said an official from South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs when asked on Jan. 25 what Prime Minister and acting president Hwang Kyo-ahn had meant when he promised to look into a multilateral response to the THAAD issue. When asked whether a review of international law meant filing a lawsuit with the WTO, the official said that that kind of plan would also be included.

The government has hitherto avoided commenting on concrete measures that go beyond a generic plan to “review an appropriate response” to China’s punitive measures. “While holding to the principle that the issues currently affecting our relations with China are related to national security, we will make a variety of efforts such as providing the necessary explanations and taking action on a bilateral and multilateral level,” said Hwang while presiding over an emergency meeting held on Jan. 16 to review developments in Northeast Asia and on the Korean Peninsula.

“A multilateral response could be seen as one of [several] measures that are worth considering,” said a source with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, which is the relevant ministry. But the source also showed caution about this course of action: “We need to carefully examine whether [China’s retaliatory measures] can be brought before the WTO on an individual basis.”

The Chinese government has feigned ignorance about the various punitive measures, including a ban on South Korean cultural exports, and maintained the position that they are not government measures. But a high-ranking source in Beijing noted that the Chinese government “is limiting Hallyu [the Korean Wave] even in classical music,” referring to the cancellation of a concert in China by soprano Jo Sumi and pianist Paik Kun-woo. “The claim that THAAD isn’t having an effect is doubtful,” the source said, suggesting that such measures represent the Chinese government’s response to THAAD.

By Kim Ji-eun and Cho Kye-wan, staff reporters

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