(News Focus) Political showdown looms as GNP seeks approval of U.S. trade deal

By Kim Deok-hyun
SEOUL, Nov. 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's ruling and opposition lawmakers are headed for a showdown this week as the ruling Grand National Party moves to ratify a sweeping free trade agreement with the United States.

South Korea and the U.S. signed the deal in June last year. Some estimate the
pact would increase a two-way trade, which totaled US$79 billion in 2007, by as
much as $20 billion in coming years.
The deal awaits the approval of both nations' legislatures. But prospects for a
quick ratification seem to have gone flat with the U.S. presidential election
victory of Democrat Barack Obama, a strong opponent of the free trade pact.
While GNP lawmakers say South Korea's National Assembly should ratify the deal
early to pressure the U.S. Congress for an approval before the outgoing U.S.
President George W. Bush ends his term, many experts are doubtful of whether the
so-called "lame-duck" congressional session will vote on the deal.
Nevertheless, the GNP, which controls 172 seats of the 299-seat single-chamber
National Assembly, vowed to seek a preliminary approval for the U.S. trade pact.
"The bill will be presented before Nov. 17 as planned," GNP Rep. Park Jin,
chairman of the National Assembly committee for foreign affairs and trade, told
Yonhap News Agency on Sunday in a telephone interview.
"We will try to persuade opposition parties to join the motion until the last
minute. But if they continue to oppose, we will do it by ourselves," Park said.
The main opposition Democratic Party, which has 83 seats, said it will
"physically" block the parliamentary committee's chairman from chairing a
session, saying the deal undermines the livelihoods of farmers and laborers.
"We won't respond to the GNP's move to submit the bill under any circumstances,"
said Rep. Cho Jeong-shik of the DP.
Other minor opposition parties such as the Liberty Forward Party and the
Democratic Labor Party have urged the National Assembly to put off a vote on the
deal, citing a potential change in U.S. trade policy under the incoming Obama
administration.
Last week, South Korea's senior trade officials ruled out any possibility of
renegotiating the deal in the wake of Obama's victory.
But many U.S. lawmakers, including Obama, have warned that the deal with South
Korea will not receive the approval of Congress unless auto trade issues are
addressed.
During the free trade negotiations with South Korea, U.S. automakers and
Democratic leaders originally demanded the outgoing administration of George W.
Bush curb imports of South Korean cars until sales of American cars had risen to
a certain level.
Rather than adopt a system of what U.S. lawmakers called "guaranteed market
access," negotiators from South Korea and the U.S. agreed to immediately abolish
or phase out tariffs on autos, depending on engine type. In addition, South Korea
agreed to scrap some regulatory and taxation barriers on U.S. vehicles.
Last year, South Korean automakers sold 772,482 vehicles in the U.S., while U.S.
auto companies sold 6,235 in South Korea, industry data showed.
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