Lawmakers optimistic on KORUS FTA ratification

(ATTN: ADDS Rep. Rangel's remarks in paras 7-8; RECASTS header)
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, May 7 (Yonhap) -- Despite growing protectionism amid the worst
recession in decades, a pending free trade agreement with South Korea could be
ratified this summer if both sides make concessions, key members of Congress
predicted Thursday.

"I think we can address through a separate agreement the problems we have," Rep.
Diane Watson (D-California) told a forum here sponsored by the Korea Economic
Institute. Watson, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Asia Subcommittee,
described the Korea FTA as a "priority issue" that should be resolved "no later
than in the summer."
Watson's remarks come as South Korea's chief trade negotiator, Kim Jong-hoon, is
set to fly into Washington next week for negotiations with his counterpart, U.S.
Trade Representative Ron Kirk, to discuss paths toward congressional approval of
the trade deal, signed in 2007.
South Korean Ambassador Han Duck-soo said Wednesday his government has "no
intention of reopening already-concluded agreements," but added that Seoul will
address the stumbling blocks to ratification.
South Korea's National Assembly foreign affairs and trade committee has approved
the pact, signaling possible ratification by the plenary parliamentary session in
June.
However, amid growing protectionist sentiment in the Democrat-controlled
Congress, U.S. President Barack Obama has yet to send the Korea FTA to Congress
for a vote. At issue are auto sales and restricted shipments of U.S. beef.
Rep. Charles Rangel (D-New York), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee,
would not predict a timeframe for the ratification of the Korea FTA, saying " We
normally do what the president asks us to do. You won't find the Congress telling
him what to do. I would leave that issue to Ambassador Kirk really because he is
working on these things hopefully with your trade representatives."
Appearing at a separate forum, Rangel, one of Obama's closest friends, however,
said "But (needless) to say, you should take note that we've had a terrible
disaster in our automobile industry. You can think about that."
Rep. Dan Burton (R-Indiana), another Foreign Affairs Committee member, considers
trade unions the biggest obstacle.
"The unions are very concerned about jobs going overseas and then losing
employment of a lot of their members," he said. "And they have a tremendous
influence on the administration."
Burton predicted ratification of pending FTAs will be difficult, but added "That
doesn't mean that they won't be passed." He was referring to the FTAs with South
Korea, Colombia and Panama.
"There probably have to be some concessions that will be made, that will be
acceptable to the people of the unions," he said. "I don't think it's going to be
easy. We see right now the domestic policy as well."
Any delay in the Korea FTA's passage, he said, will undermine American goods'
competitiveness in South Korea, which has been negotiating similar agreements
with China, Japan and the European Union.
"Today the No. 1 trading parter for South Korea is China," he said. "Two years
ago, it was the U.S. So now is the time for us to refocus, especially coming out
of the recession in terms of what it means to have that 25 percent increase in
additional trade with South Korea."
U.S. government statistics show a possible increase of up to US$20 billion in
annual trade with South Korea, the seventh biggest trade partner for the U.S, if
the agreement is implemented.
Kirk recently said that he will seek "new solutions" to the pending FTA with
South Korea, adding that he will "promptly, but effectively" address the
imbalance in auto trade and South Korea's ban on shipments of beef from cattle
older than 30 months, with priority placed on beef.
Obama has taken issue with what he has called lopsided auto trade, although South
Korea disputes the U.S. figures, which include hundreds of thousands of autos
produced by Hyundai Motor's plant in Alabama.
The American Chamber of Commerce in Korea recently issued statistics to show that
GM Daewoo, General Motor's Korean subsidiary, sold more than 110,000 cars in
Korea last year, 11.7 percent of the Korean market, which is much more than
Hyundai and Kia Motors' market share in the U.S., at about seven percent for the
first several months this year.
In London last month, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Obama "agreed that
the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement could bring benefits to both countries and
committed to working together to chart a way forward."
South Korean officials hope that the upcoming Lee-Obama summit June 16 in
Washington will result in a breakthrough on the auto and beef issues.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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