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February 27, 2008
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The chief U.S. negotiator for the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement is repeating the same message: Korea has to open its market to U.S. beef imports if it wants the U.S. to ratify the deal. In an interview with the JoongAng Daily yesterday, Wendy Cutler said U.S. legislators are refusing to approve the deal because Korea has not yet lifted its ban on U.S. beef. The ban was imposed after an outbreak of mad cow disease in the United States in 2003. “In the U.S., we need active and strong support from our agricultural community to really move the FTA through our Congress,” said Cutler, who attended President Lee Myung-bak’s inauguration ceremony on Monday. “It’s critical that we resolve our beef issue so we can get the necessary support from key legislators, key congressmen and important stakeholders for the FTA,” she said. The resumption of U.S beef imports was not on the agenda during FTA negotiations last year. But many U.S. lawmakers with farmers in their constituencies are threatening to vote against the bill unless the beef import issue is resolved. “Certain senators and congressmen told us, ‘If you resolve the beef issue, we will vote yes on the FTA. But if you don’t resolve the beef issue, don’t count on our support,’” she said. Under pressure, Seoul is considering allowing bone-in beef from cattle aged 30 months or younger, according to the proposal by the Agriculture Ministry to the new administration. But Cutler said the proposal is not going to please Washington. “Frankly, we are not interested in partial market opening,” she said. Efforts in Korea to ratify the pact, the nation’s largest-ever trade agreement and the second largest for the United States, have also stalled. The Korean government submitted the bill this month to the National Assembly, but lawmakers, also mindful of rural voters and April’s general election, are dragging their heels. The World Organization for Animal Health (O.I.E.) now considers the U.S. a “risk-controlled country” for mad cow disease, which gives a green light to eating U.S. beef. But several Asian countries, including Korea, argue that the U.S. has not yet fully established safety measures against a possible mad cow outbreak. “We would like to resolve the issue based on science, put it behind us and get the FTA deal ratified in both countries,” Cutler said. “Even if we did not have the FTA, we would still be urging our Korean colleagues, like we’re urging our Chinese, Japanese and Taiwanese counterparts, to open up their beef market fully in accordance with O.I.E. guidelines.” Korea’s new president, who officially took office on Monday, is a long-term proponent of the trade bill, which is projected to increase Korea’s gross domestic product by 9 trillion won ($9.6 billion) a year. President Lee expressed his support for the free trade in his inauguration speech. “Opening of the market to the foreign sector is an unavoidable mega-trend. Such an economy as ours, which depends so much on exports, should increase our national wealth through free trade pacts,” Lee said. The political waters, however, are less favorable in the United States. Both Democratic presidential hopefuls ― Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton ― have repeatedly voiced opposition to the bill. However, Cutler expressed optimism to the fate of the pact, stressing the different legislative procedures in the United States make it more difficult to submit the bill hastily. “I remain hopeful that we are going to do it [ratify the FTA] this year under President Bush’s leadership,” she said. “I think the prospects are good. They are tough but good.” Korea’s National Assembly has no deadline to review a legislative bill, while the U.S. Congress, once the bill is submitted, has only 90 days to mull over a proposal before it is either passed or rejected. “We have to think very carefully when to submit the bill and do everything we can to assure we have an accurate vote count for the agreement before the bill is submitted,” Cutler said. By Jung Ha-won Staff Reporter [hawon@joongang.co.kr] |
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