

US-Korea
The US-Korea free trade agreement (or KORUS FTA, as called in Korea) has been one of the most controversial since NAFTA, if one could measure in terms of social mobilisation. Millions of people have fought against this deal, taking to the streets and flying across the Pacific to try to defeat it.
Washington and Seoul talked about a possible free trade agreement for several years before anything got started. As it turns out, the US had four preliminary demands for the Korean government to fulfil before any FTA talks could start. The four prerequisites were:
suspending regulations on pharmaceutical product prices so US drug firms could get a better deal in the Korean market (secured in October 2005)
easing government regulations on gas emissions in imported US cars so that more American cars could be sold in Korea (secured in November 2005)
resuming importation of US beef, which were stopped in 2003 because of mad cow disease in the US (agreed in January 2006) and
reducing South Korea’s compulsory film quota for cinemas from 146 days per year to 73 days so that more American films could be shown (agreed in January 2006).
Once the Roh administration caved in to the last item, the two governments announced, on 2 February 2006, that FTA talks would start in May 2006 and end by June 2007.
The implications of the US-Korea FTA stretch far beyond Korean movie houses as the agreement would open the entire Korean economy to US corporate penetration. Korean farmers and workers organised a strenuous resistance to the deal, with support from actors, students, health professionals, consumers groups, environmental organisation, veterinarians, lawyers and other sectors. Alliances were also built with opponents to the deal in the US, including AFL-CIO, the country’s largest labour union.
The first round of negotiations took place in the US on 5-9 June 2006. Ten months and eight formal rounds (not to mention numerous side talks on side agreements) later, the deal was concluded on 2 April 2007 in Seoul, just hours after a Korean taxi driver commited self-immolation in protest to the signing.
This was not the end, however. Two weeks later, newly elected Korean President Lee Myung-Bak travelled to Washington to sign the FTA. While there, on 18 April, the two governments inked yet another side deal that the US insisted was necessary for the FTA to go through. This deal laid out explicit rules on how Korea was to open its market in the broadest way to US beef imports, despite concerns about mad cow disease. The adoption of this secret pact triggered off what became known as the "beef crisis" in Korea. Students, mothers and consumers raised a fury of candlelight protests and other actions that by June 2008 had ministers resigning and the president own tenure under threat.
After several more years of sustained opposition to the agreement, the US-Korea FTA was finally ratification by both countries’ parliaments and took effect in November 2011 However opposition to, and concerns about the FTA have not faded since it passed, with many worried about the implications of the investor-state dispute mechanism in the deal.
last update: May 2012
Articles
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21-May-2012 Guam-NMI lawmakers want trade pact with Korea
Lawmakers from Guam and the CNMI are organizing themselves to lobby for the inclusion of two territories in the U.S.-South Korea free trade agreement. -
4-May-2012 Leading US official rules out renegotiation of free trade pact
Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Wendy Cutler ruled out renegotiation of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement on Thursday, saying the deal had been in effect for just six weeks. Her comments foreshadowed a tough time for the Korean government’s efforts to revise the investor-state dispute settlement system under the accord. -
30-Apr-2012 The Hankyoreh Supreme Court recommends renegotiation of ISD clause
Controversial KORUS FTA clause could lead to ‘legal chaos’, says Korea’s top legal body -
25-Apr-2012 Le Point Deux grandes enseignes alimentaires retirent le boeuf américain en Corée du Sud
Les États-Unis ont annoncé mardi avoir détecté un cas d’encéphalopathie spongiforme bovine (ESB) sur une vache laitière du centre de la Californie. -
25-Apr-2012 NZ Herald Mad-cow scare stalls US beef sales in Sth Korea
South Korean agriculture officials are considering whether to formally suspend delivery of US beef to stores by halting quarantine inspections, preventing it from clearing customs. -
29-Mar-2012 The Detroit News Korea trade deal unlikely to benefit Chrysler, CEO says
Chrysler-Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne told lawmakers Wednesday he is skeptical of the benefits of some free-trade agreements, and urged caution about proceeding with some new agreements. -
21-Mar-2012 Customs officials busy on Day 1 of FTA`s effectuation
A cargo plane that departed from Chicago arrived at Incheon International Airport at 7:39 a.m. Thursday. The plane was the first vehicle to bring U.S. freight to Korea since the bilateral free trade agreement took effect Thursday. -
17-Mar-2012 After KORUS FTA, new pressures on the horizon
As the South Korea-United States Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) takes effects Thursday, some are expecting new trade pressures from the US, including moves to open the beef market. In particular, South Korea will be forced to sit down at the negotiating table if the US requests negotiations on beef. -
7-Mar-2012 Arirang US calls for additional FTA measures to ensure transparency in medicine pricing in Korea
With just days left before the implementation of the US-Korea free trade agreement Washington is drawing attention to a little publicized area of the trade treaty, the part covering the pricing of medicine in Korea. The US says it wants more transparency; the Korean pharmaceutical industry says it wants to maintain control over pricing domestically. -
1-Mar-2012 Arirang Govt. to provide cash assistance to livestock farmers affected by FTA play
Korean livestock farmers will receive cash assistance from the government if the price of their products drop after the Korea-US free trade agreement comes into effect on 15 March. This is one of the latest measures laid out by the agriculture ministry. -
24-Feb-2012 Jeju Weekly Jeju produce under threat by FTA
Mandarin farmers should be worried over KORUS FTA, says JNU professor -
23-Feb-2012 Reuters Korea, US free trade deal to take effect March 15
A long-delayed free trade deal between the United States and South Korea will go into effect on March 15 following months of technical-level talks, officials said on Tuesday, cheering business groups that have waited years for the day. -
16-Feb-2012 KORUS FTA battle coming in April general election
Democratic Party lawmaker Chung Dong-young and former Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon had a number of face-offs during the final National Assembly debates just prior to the railroading of the South Korea-United States Free Trade Agreement ratification in October. Now the two men, who battled each other from the two extremes on the KORUS FTA issue, may be facing off once again for Seoul‘s Gangnam-B seat in April’s general election. -
9-Feb-2012 Prensa Latina Partido surcoreano promete anular TLC con EE.UU. si gana elecciones
La presidenta del opositor Partido Democrático Unido (PDU) de Surcorea, Han Myeong-sook, afirmó hoy que anulará el tratado de libre comercio (TLC), firmado con Estados Unidos, si su organización gana las venideras elecciones generales y presidenciales. -
5-Feb-2012 Putting a brake on FTA
The opposition Democratic United Party appears set to scuttle the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement by any means. The DUP will ask the U.S. president and Congress to suspend the implementation of the KORUS FTA, and go as far as to ``break” it if the liberal party wins in a presidential election in December. -
19-Jan-2012 Korea Herald DUP pledges full repeal of US FTA
The newly elected Supreme Council of Korea’s main opposition Democratic United Party pledged to fully repeal the disputed Korea-US Free Trade Agreement. -
9-Jan-2012 Jeju Weekly ’Who is this workshop for?’
Seven protesting farmers and fishermen barred from a government meeting on the Korea-US FTA are arrested in Jeju City, Jan. 9 -
7-Jan-2012 AMCHAM interferes in domestic policies through FTA
Under the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA), Korean civil servants would be excluded from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA)’s process of price determination. Instead independent review procedures could be used to set prices for medicines and medical supplies. This has caused concern among health care groups who worry that multinational pharmaceutical companies could use the independent review procedure to change the Korean government’s medicine prices. -
28-Dec-2011 VoA South Korean lawmakers call for renegotiation of trade agreement with US
South Korean lawmakers on Tuesday adopted a resolution urging the country’s government to renegotiate portions of the recently ratified free trade agreement with the United States. -
14-Dec-2011 Socialist Worker Online Occupy Seoul activists rally against neoliberalism on day of action
Occupy Seoul has helped to revitalise the campaign against the neoliberal Korea-US Free Trade Agreement
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AMCHAM Korea on US-Korea FTA
The American Chamber of Commerce in Korea’s information page on the US-Korea FTA talks -
Ben Muse - KORUS FTA
A blog with a large number of links and references to the US-Korea FTA talks and analyses about them. -
Contestation sud-coréenne
Sur ce blog vous trouverez explications, actualités, photos et vidéos du mouvement de contestation en Corée du Sud contre l’importation de bœuf américain et pour la destitution du président Lee Myong Bak. -
KAWAN
Korean Americans Against War and Neoliberalism -
Korea Alliance against KorUS FTA (KoA)
The Korean Alliance against KorUS FTA is developing an English section of its website. -
Korea Policy Institute
The US-based Korea Policy Institute produces policy briefs, organizes Congressional press briefings and sponsors policy roundtable on the proposed US-South Korea Free Trade Agreement. -
Korean Civil Society Coalition against KORUS FTA on Intellectual Property Rigthts
Korean Civil Society Coalition against KORUS FTA on Intellectual Property Rigthts (KCSC) is deeply worried about the Korea-US FTA negotiations especially on the issue of IPRs such as copyright, patent and trademark and strongly opposes the whole process of Korea-US FTA negotiations. -
MORFNG
MORFNG stands for "Mobilize and Organize to Resist the US-South Korea FTA and Neoliberal Globalization", a blog set up in May 2006. -
No FTA
Website against the US-Korea FTA (in Korean) -
US-Korea FTA Business Coalition
The US-Korea FTA Business Coalition is a group of over 100 leading US companies and trade associations that strongly support the conclusion and passage of a free trade agreement between the United States and the Republic of Korea. -
US-Korea FTA Resource Center
Website of the Korean Economic Institute on the US-Korea FTA -
VoiceofPeople
The VoiceofPeople is a progressive internet press outfit in Korea covering the FTA struggle.