ID :
32286
Tue, 11/25/2008 - 18:00
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/32286
The shortlink copeid
Farmers protest FTA with U.S. in Seoul rally
SEOUL, Nov. 25 (Yonhap) -- Tens of thousands of farmers rallied in front of the National Assembly on Tuesday, protesting the ruling party's move to ratify a free trade deal with the United States.
Sporting rice sacks on their upper body and red headbands with anti-FTA slogans,
the farmers sat on the pavement, shouting, "Stop FTA ratification!"
President Lee Myung-bak's Grand National Party is pushing to ram the free trade
deal with the U.S. through the National Assembly. It claims that if South Korea
ratifies the deal first, it would pressure the U.S. to do the same.
U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has voiced opposition to the deal which was
signed in the summer of 2007, arguing that it is seriously disadvantageous to the
U.S. auto industry.
South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party argues Seoul should not hurry but
wait to gain the edge in future talks.
South Korean farmers strongly oppose the deal, which they argue would only result
in flooding the domestic agricultural market with cheap imports.
About 25,000 farmers from as far as the southern Jeju Island traveled by bus and
plane to take part in Tuesday's rally. They protested high production costs. A
pack of fertilizer, for example, has jumped to 22,000 won (US$14.64) compared to
less than 7,000 won just two years ago.
"President Kim Dae-jung did a good job, President Roh Moo-hyun was all right, but
President Lee Myung-bak doesn't know the situation at all," one of the
protesters, Won Dong-ju, 59, said, referring to the names of three past and
current presidents.
A 40-kilogram bag of rice sells for the same price as a fertilizer pack while
feed costs for cattle are at a record high amid the influx of cheap imports from
the U.S., he said.
The current president, Lee, a former Seoul mayor and Hyundai CEO, won the
election late last year with a pledge to boost the economy, but his efforts have
largely failed to win public support.
Five opposition lawmakers from rural constituencies took part in the rally.
"You set out at dawn for this rally, because you are not heard by the government
and the assembly," Rep. Lee Nak-yon, chair of the National Assembly's Agriculture
and Maritime Affairs Committee, said to a roaring crowd.
"The Lee Myung-bak government is seeking to become an advanced country. But no
countries in the world can become an advanced country, abandoning its agriculture
like Korea does now. See the U.S., Germany, France, Spain and Japan," he shouted.
The farmers burned a colorful brier as a symbol of the death of South Korea's
agriculture. Waving flags and red signs, they marched down a bridge across the
Han River after the rally.
About 8,000 police stood by but no major clashes or arrests were reported.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
Sporting rice sacks on their upper body and red headbands with anti-FTA slogans,
the farmers sat on the pavement, shouting, "Stop FTA ratification!"
President Lee Myung-bak's Grand National Party is pushing to ram the free trade
deal with the U.S. through the National Assembly. It claims that if South Korea
ratifies the deal first, it would pressure the U.S. to do the same.
U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has voiced opposition to the deal which was
signed in the summer of 2007, arguing that it is seriously disadvantageous to the
U.S. auto industry.
South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party argues Seoul should not hurry but
wait to gain the edge in future talks.
South Korean farmers strongly oppose the deal, which they argue would only result
in flooding the domestic agricultural market with cheap imports.
About 25,000 farmers from as far as the southern Jeju Island traveled by bus and
plane to take part in Tuesday's rally. They protested high production costs. A
pack of fertilizer, for example, has jumped to 22,000 won (US$14.64) compared to
less than 7,000 won just two years ago.
"President Kim Dae-jung did a good job, President Roh Moo-hyun was all right, but
President Lee Myung-bak doesn't know the situation at all," one of the
protesters, Won Dong-ju, 59, said, referring to the names of three past and
current presidents.
A 40-kilogram bag of rice sells for the same price as a fertilizer pack while
feed costs for cattle are at a record high amid the influx of cheap imports from
the U.S., he said.
The current president, Lee, a former Seoul mayor and Hyundai CEO, won the
election late last year with a pledge to boost the economy, but his efforts have
largely failed to win public support.
Five opposition lawmakers from rural constituencies took part in the rally.
"You set out at dawn for this rally, because you are not heard by the government
and the assembly," Rep. Lee Nak-yon, chair of the National Assembly's Agriculture
and Maritime Affairs Committee, said to a roaring crowd.
"The Lee Myung-bak government is seeking to become an advanced country. But no
countries in the world can become an advanced country, abandoning its agriculture
like Korea does now. See the U.S., Germany, France, Spain and Japan," he shouted.
The farmers burned a colorful brier as a symbol of the death of South Korea's
agriculture. Waving flags and red signs, they marched down a bridge across the
Han River after the rally.
About 8,000 police stood by but no major clashes or arrests were reported.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
