by M. Ulric Killion

Lawmakers (i.e., both ruling and opposition party members of the South Korea National Assembly—Gukhoe [or 국회]) tentatively agreed to postpone, until April 2009, the ratification of the Korea – US free trade agreement, which was earlier concluded in 2007.  The Korea - US Free Trade Agreement, or the Republic of Korea-United States Free Trade Agreement (Han-Mi jayu muyeok hyeopjeong, KORUS FTA), would mark the first US Free Trade Agreement with a major Asian economy and its largest trade agreement, since the one signed with Canada and Mexico in 1993, or simply, the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte (TLCAN). The NAFTA or TLCAN is the North America trilateral trade bloc between the US, Canada, and Mexico, which superseded the earlier 1984 Canada – US Free Trade Agreement. Moreover, the significance for South Korea (or the Republic of Korea) is that the Korea – US FTA is by far its largest free trade agreement. To-date, South Korea has formed free trade agreements, which are with Chile in 2002, Singapore in 2005, and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and its member states (i.e., Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland) in 2006. According to Arirang News, “Ratification has been delayed by the National Assembly as opposition lawmakers are mindful of protests from farmers who fear losing valuable market share.”

Sources:

South Korea/US: FTA jumps major hurdles, faces others, Oxford Analytica, International Herald Tribune, April 2, 2007.

NAFTA Secretariat website. 

Lawmakers Postpone Korea-U.S. FTA Bill, Chosun Ilbo  (Arirang News), March 5, 2009. 

Korea-Singapore Trade Doubles Since 2005 FTA, Chosun Ilbo  (Arirang News), March 2, 2009. 

Dan Griswold, NAFTA at 10: An Economic and Foreign Policy Success, Cato Institute, Free Trade Bulletin, No. 1: December 17, 2002, >> Read full article - PDF version of Free Trade Bulletin No. 1.

Chung Hae-kwan, The Korea-Chile FTA: Significance and Implications, East Asia Review, Vol. 15, No. 1, Spring 2003, pp. 71-86, >> Read full article – PDF version.

Free Trade Agreement between EFTA and South Korea,(European Free Trade Association), European Reports, September 4, 2006.