KORUS FTA Debate

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The South Korea-U.S. FTA joint committee began a meeting in Seoul on Tuesday morning. The meeting was convened in line with strong demands from the U.S. to renegotiate the free trade deal. The South Korean government plans to defend its stance by proposing an objective survey into the outcome of the FTA over the past five years.

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The joint South Korea-U.S. FTA committee began their meeting on Tuesday morning at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul. The meeting was convened in line with demands by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to discuss a revision of the free trade agreement due to trade losses that the U.S. government believes stem from the deal. The joint committee began the meeting with a video conference between the South Korean and U.S. chief negotiators, Kim Hyun-jong and Robert Lighthizer. After the video conference, a meeting of high-ranking officials began at a different venue with more than 30 participants from both countries in attendance, including Director-General for FTA negotiations Yoo Myung-hee and chief of staff to the U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. The meeting is being held behind closed doors with a briefing to be released later on Tuesday by the South Korean chief negotiator. At the first meeting both sides will likely take time to hear each other's stances. The U.S. government claims that it has suffered a trade deficit due to the FTA and that the deal must be revised, whereas the Korean government says that both nations have benefited from it over the past five years. The Korean government believes that the results of the FTA must be evaluated in on objective way to find out exactly whether the U.S.' trade deficit was in fact caused by the agreement. The Korean government hopes to prevent a revision, as the process requires a consensus from both sides. Meanwhile, American society appears to be split on whether or not to revise the FTA with South Korea.