I attended Ambassador Kim Hyun-Chong’s (ROK perm rep to the UN, previously trade minister) talk today at Weatherhead. Charles Armstrong (director of Korean studies at the institute) was hosting, and his predecessor Samuel Kim made an appearance. It wasn’t very well publicized outside of the grad student circles (I wish I had more grad school friends), so it was held in the institute 9th floor lounge, with about 20-30 people attending, mostly graduate students and external visitors. Amb. Kim is a Columbia alum (law school) and great speaker, although a little less diplomatic than I expected – he’s funny in a sardonic way and doesn’t smile that much, and he had some strong words on the topic.
He gave a brief background on multilateral v. bilateral trade agreements in general, then a short history of ROK bilateral agreements, to how the KORUS FTA came about. Here are the interesting parts:
Ratification: If it doesn’t pass congress, that would “flush down 50 years of alliance.” He also mentioned Dean Acheson’s defense perimeter exclusion and other historical grievances (Sino-Japanese war). Major opposition to ratification are the US auto unions. Will probably see ratification feb-july 08.
Rice exclusion: He pointed to the Jones Act (which blocks the ROK shipbuilding industry). He noted that agriculture liberalization is a welfare rather than competition issue as most of the farmers are aged.
On the implementation of the FTA: He also had this funny story about beef import rules and how the stipulation for ‘boneless beef’ only (no bovine SRM) means they x-ray every cargo box, and even a tiny bone chip the size of a fingernail means rejection, which has resulted in US beef exporters setting their mechanized slaughterhouses to cut further away from the bone.
On Korean agriculture: He mentioned that when he was studying in the US, his aunt at home sent him a package of specially-prepared kimchi every month since he can’t eat just any kimchi. I wish my mom would send me packages of food, but I think 1) it won’t transport that well, 2) customs might not like it and 3) it’ll be much more expensive than going to Nonya.
Benefits: While it helps keep inflation down for consumers, he says the real gain is to subject all ROK industries (except agriculture) to intense competition.
ROK-Japan: Preliminary negotiations in progress, will officially start with the new administration.
ROK-China: Blocked by agriculture.
Kaesong complex: He mentioned that in the many cases where countries reformed/liberalized, pressures came mostly from within. He didn’t elaborate further on that. He also thinks reunification will come sooner rather than later. A second complex is in the plans, as well as an upgrade of Kaesong. He also noted that DPRK allowed shipbuilders to use East Sea facilities with deeper harbors, which has cut production costs by 40%.
Last semester, the DPRK perm rep to the UN was supposed to come talk at Weatherhead, but I guess in the aftermath of the Minuteman incident they didn’t want that kind of attention. Which is unfortunate, since I was looking forward to it.
