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(LEAD) Obama likely to address KORUS FTA early next year after health care reform: Amb. Han
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 (Yonhap) -- The Barack Obama administration will likely proceed with the ratification of a free trade deal with South Korea early next year after going through health care reform, South Korean ambassador Han Duck-soo said Thursday.
"We expect chances for the ratification of the FTA in late 2009 or early 2010 after completion of health care reform," Han told a parliamentary session held at the South Korean embassy here. "However, progress may not be made with ease on trade issues due to falling support for free trade in the wake of the economic crisis."
Global warming, financial reform and next year's mid-term elections will also likely serve as hurdles to the early ratification of the FTA signed in 2007, Han said.
South Korean and U.S. lawmakers have not yet ratified the trade deal, which is known formally as the KORUS FTA and is the largest for the U.S. since the North American Free Trade Agreement of 1992.
Officials in both Korea and the U.S. have said they favor side agreements to address U.S. concerns about an imbalance in auto trade and restricted shipments of U.S. beef, rather than revising the text of the deal itself.
Han said that he was considering signing a contract with a U.S. lobbyist to facilitate congressional ratification of the pending FTA at the U.S. Senate.
"We are seeking to employ a lobbyist focused on the Senate next year," he said. "We need to fill the vacuum in lobbying in the Senate as we currently employ two lobbying firms for the House of Representatives."
U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Kathleen Stephens said last month that she could not "predict a timeframe" for the FTA's ratification, but expressed hope the two sides will "come up with a way forward."
South Korea is the seventh-largest trading partner of the U.S., with trade in goods reaching US$83 billion in 2008, and trade in services reaching $19 billion in 2007.
"If approved, the agreement would be the United States' most commercially significant free trade agreement in more than 16 years," the U.S. Trade Representative said in a report recently. "The U.S. International Trade Commission estimates that the reduction of Korean tariffs and tariff-rate quotas on goods alone would add $10 billion to $12 billion to the annual U.S. GDP, and around $10 billion to U.S. annual goods exports to Korea."
Han said that 296 public comments or 91.6 percent out of the total 324 comments filed to the USTR supported the KORUS FTA's ratification.
The USTR asked for the comments in July to assess the viability of the pending agreement amid growing protectionism in the Democratic Congress and the worst recession in decades.
Congressional Democrats are concerned about a backlash from trade unions, a political power base for Democrats, amid rising fears over possible job cuts.
While meeting with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in June, Obama agreed to make efforts to "chart a way forward," and said he will seek the appropriate "political timing" for submission of the KORUS FTA to Congress "once we have resolved some of the substantive issues."
Another key element of the USTR's review of the pact is the Korea-European FTA, which was recently signed, and is expected to take effect early next year, U.S. officials said.
Tami Overby, vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said recently that the KORUS FTA "should be ratified immediately" to "help solidify U.S. interests in the region," fearing the U.S. has been losing ground in the Asia-Pacific region.
"The region is not waiting to engage other countries. Korea in particular is very actively moving toward concluding FTAs and creating more opportunities for their citizens," she said. "The U.S. has a critical opportunity to ratify the KORUS FTA. But while we are waiting, Korea has already concluded an EU FTA and initialing it early in the new year and possibly enforce it next summer. What this means to American companies in Korea is they are going to be disadvantaged."
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)
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