Free trade deal agreed over protests

United States and South Korean negotiators struck the world's largest bilateral free-trade agreement on Apr. 3 amid angry protests outside of the luxury hilltop hotel where delegates met. The deal is the biggest of its kind for the United States since the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994 with Canada and Mexico. It is Washington's first bilateral trade pact with a major Asian economy. The deal entails heavily political costs for South Korea, which can expect the loss of tens of thousands of farming jobs. Up to $2.1 billion in agricultural revenue will be lost as cheap US corn, soybeans and processed foods flood the country, according to studies by South Korean economists. President Roh Moo-hyun now stands accused by his leftist supporters of turning his country into a "51st state of the United States of America." On Apr. 1, a man shouted "Stop the Korea-US FTA" and then set himself on fire in protest as demonstrators took to the streets of Seoul. He was taken to a hospital where he was treated for third-degree burns. Nearby, about 150 protesters, including farmers, students and activists, some wearing red or white headbands, denounced the talks, chanting "Down with the Roh Moo-hyun government." A brief clash between some of the protesters and riot police carrying shields and truncheons erupted later, with one policeman falling to the ground bloodied. After dark, protesters gathered in front of Seoul City Hall for a candlelight protest, holding placards and chanting. The protesters then marched through central Seoul toward the presidential Blue House. There, the Korean Alliance Against the Korea-US FTA, a coalition of activists opposed to the proposed free trade deal, held a news conference and accused the government of trying to give away the entertainment and broadcasting industries to the US. About 3,500 college students began marching toward the plaza in front of City Hall to join the candlelight protest after they finished their own rally demanding colleges stop raising tuition fees. About 10,000 riot police had been deployed to head off any possible violence. Some previous anti-FTA rallies have erupted into violence. Last November, massive anti-FTA demonstrations left 63 people injured, including 35 police officers. Earlier in the week, some 10,000 protesters marched in Seoul near the US embassy. Some of them clashed with riot police. On Mar. 29, a group of 47 South Korean lawmakers held a news conference in the National Assembly, arguing their government was "cutting corners" in trying to seal a deal with the US. Dubbing their meeting an "emergency conference to oppose a knocked-up FTA deal and save the country," the lawmakers, including several who have been on a hunger strike, argued that the free trade talks would end up heavily favoring the US. The day before, a group of liberal lawyers and scholars also joined rallies against the talks. The progressive Lawyers for a Democratic Society said it began a sit-in protest with many of its members participating. In another development, an association of about 260 college professors and scholars released a statement contending that an FTA with the US would deepen economic disparities and undermine social harmony in South Korea. Former Justice Minister Chun Jung-bae, a member of the ruling Uri Party and a presidential hopeful, began an indefinite hunger strike on Mar. 26, saying a free trade deal with the United States would damage the South Korean economy. "I feel we have nothing to gain but everything to lose," the lawmaker said in a statement issued ahead of staging the protest. Moon Sung-hyun, head of the minor Democratic Labor Party, has also been on a hunger strike for three weeks in front of the president's house, protesting the government's "hasty moves" to seal a deal. Trade negotiators announced the agreement, reached after 10 months of negotiations, just in time to comply with a legislative deadline in the United States, after which President Bush's "fast-track" authority to negotiate foreign trade deals without amendments from Congress would expire. If ratified by Congress, the trade deal will eliminate tariffs on more than 90 percent of the product categories traded between the two countries. South Korea agreed to lift trade barriers to US products like cars and beef, while the United States abandoned a longstanding demand that Seoul eliminate subsidies on South Korean rice.