What happened to the WTO?

[Anchor]

As countries engage in life-and-death trade disputes, the place that has played a significant role as a problem solver is the WTO, the World Trade Organization.

However, this organization has been effectively dormant for several years.

This marks the beginning of a jungle of international trade without a referee, and how did it come to this? Reporter Kim Ji-sook investigates.

[Report]

[July 9, 1992/KBS News: "We have succeeded in developing a 32-megabit memory semiconductor."]

In the early days of semiconductor exports.

The United States imposed anti-dumping duties of up to 11% on Korean DRAM, claiming it was too cheap.

In 1997, Korea filed a complaint against the U.S. with the WTO and won after about a year of disputes.

In 2018, the WTO sided with Korea regarding the U.S. claim that its domestic electronics companies saw damages due to Korean products.

As such, when a specific country takes discriminatory measures against exported goods, member countries can file a complaint with the WTO.

The appellate body, which is the final court in a two-tier system, has been effectively in a 'vegetative' state since 2019.

This is because of the United States.

No member country can oppose the appointment of appellate judges, but due to the U.S. refusal, there have been zero appellate judges since 2020.

It's like a court without judges.

The WTO's dispute resolution function has been paralyzed.

The U.S. counters that it is 'because of China'.

[Hussein Kamal/Chair of the WTO Ministerial Conference/November 2001: "The Ministerial Confererence, so agrees (of Chia joining the WTO)."]

The U.S. accused the WTO of favoring China.

A major example is the U.S. losing its tariffs dispute against China during the Trump administration.

[Donald Trump/Then U.S. President/Sept. 2020: "I'm not a big fan of the WTO. That, I can tell you right now."]

This year, the U.S. Trade Representative's report defined the WTO as a "failed system," but it is also possible to argue that the crisis is only at least this level because the WTO exists.

[Cho Sung-dae/Director of Trade Research at the Korea International Trade Association: "It's a kind of 'seal'. If it is lifted, everyone could go on a rampage. If there were no WTO, tariffs could be raised freely without any consideration. We need to think about how to improve this ..."]

After 30 years since its establishment, the WTO, which has upheld the free trade order, is now being put to the test.

This is KBS News, Kim Ji-sook.