SEOUL, Sept. 15 (Yonhap) -- California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger strongly urged his country Wednesday to quickly implement a free trade agreement (FTA) with South Korea, saying a failure to do so will be the worst thing the United States can do.
South Korea and the U.S. signed the free trade deal in 2007 after nearly two years of negotiations, but the accord still awaits ratification in the legislatures of both countries.

   "The worst thing America or any nation can do would be to go back to (trade) protectionism," Schwarzenegger said in a breakfast meeting hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea and attended by some 600 U.S. and South Korean business leaders.

   The governor said such a move would not lead to success or prosperity, but an "economic suicide."

   Schwarzenegger arrived here Tuesday as part of an Asia tour that earlier took him to China and Japan.

   The former Hollywood star said his career as one of the most successful bodybuilders in the world and later as an actor had taught him to think international instead of domestic and that the same thinking can be applied to the economy of California, which he said already depends on trade with the rest of the world for one out of every seven jobs in the state.

   Schwarzenegger noted the implementation of the Korea-U.S. FTA would add an additional US$2 billion a year to California's $6-billion exports to South Korea while creating tens of thousands of jobs for both the U.S. and South Korea.

   South Korea is already California's fifth-largest trading partner and California is the ninth largest to South Korea, he said.

   "We must not tighten the screws of trade. We must blast off those screws," the California governor said, offering a tone from his successful action movies.

   Schwarzenegger's two-day trip to Korea ends later Wednesday, but he said that before he departs, he will have a chance to ride on the country's KTX bullet train to see what made the train service so successful.

   California is working to build a high-speed railroad, and the governor said South Korea will bid for the project expected to cost $40 billion, saying it will be a "terrific partnership."

   bdk@yna.co.kr
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