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'Free' for whom? - recent movements in Korea to form FTAs *

Recently, the Korean government and the business sector are accelerating their movements to make Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with several countries. On June 18th-19th, Korean and US business counterparts met in Washington DC and called for immediate signing of the FTA between the two nations, and then on 3rd July, the Minister for Commerce, Industry & Energy Jang Jae-Sik said "We must gather opinion from industries and move onto making additional FTAs to the presently standing Kor-Chile FTA, to prevent isolation during times when developments on forming regional blocks are quickening. There are now around 170 countries worldwide which have formed FTAs."(Munhwa Ilbo, 3rd July, '01) The government officially announced that it will actively promote FTAs with major trade counterparts. Thus, it is expected that government will speed up negotiations for the Kor-Chile FTA, the Kor-Japan Bilateral Investment Treaty(BIT) and the Kor-US BIT which were either in stalemate or stagnating situations. Possibilities for additional negotiations for FTAs with Thailand and New Zealand, which are at the moment in investigation, will most likely become realities in a short period of time.

An FTA is a form of economic integration which involves the elimination of tariffs and other barriers in commercial and services trade. It gives non-tariff benefits to the agreed nations but allows for the continuation of tariffs and trade policies towards those outside of the agreement. Among regional FTAs the EU, NAFTA, MERCOSUR, AFTA are the most prominent. NAFTA and MERCOSUR will integrate by 2005 to form the world's largest free trade zone, the FTAA. As for bilateral agreements, there are dozens of nations involved as Minister Jang cited. From the present number of 170 nations, experts foretell that by 2005, there will be around 220 countries forming various types of FTAs. As the Multilateral Agreement on Investment(MAI) centred around WTO was broken off due to global resistance, movements to form bilateral or regional FTAs have abruptly increased during the last few years.
Trade of the neo-liberal era has not only increased in quantity by includes services, investment, intellectual property rights, procurement, competition policies, environment, labour standards etc and will thus affect our lives in every way. The way we eat, wear, act and think will now be left to the hands of the global market economy. It is nothing other than a death sentence for the people, for any regulations that are judged to be an obstacle against 'free' trade will be abolished. Tariffs and trade barriers of course - labour rights and regulations to protect the environment must also be sacrificed. After the NAFTA went into effect, around 400,000 workers in the US lost their jobs, actual wages crumbled and labour rights were diminished. Hundreds of thousands of women workers in Latin America are exploited in sub-human conditions. Opening of agricultural market and the use of GMOs has destroyed the lives of small farmers in Asia and Latin America, and also brought about massive destruction to the environment. The unprecedented spread of poverty and disease has already been confirmed several times even by the UN.

The continual nightmare which peoples of Americas are going through under the regime of globalization and free trade is not merely a story from far-off lands. If the Kor-Chile FTA is signed, the abolishment of tariffs on agricultural goods will destroy small Korean farmers. The Kor-Japan BIT includes a 'serious clause' on labour rights which will bring about workers oppression of Japanese companies in Korea. The Kor-US BIT not only demands for the opening of the cultural industry to foreign investment (to change the minds of Koreans in favour of 'western' culture to make economic investment easier, the US stated) but also includes clauses which will enforce privatization and increase in shares of foreign stockholders. It is also no longer a secret that governments and capitalists seek to form a massive free trade zone in East Asia, using cheap labour of North Korea (this is the reality of 'reunification'!) The recent suppression of the government on workers' struggles and the revision of labour laws which undermined maternity protection are all part of the process to make an 'hospitable' environment for investment and free trade. This is the reality of neo-liberal restructuring in Korea, and this is the essence of globalization.

It is not too far-fetching to say that the anti-globalization movements of the last few decades, which international institutions and multinational companies are now feeling somewhat threatened by, were movements against free trade itself. From the uprising of the Mexican Zapatista on the day NAFTA went into effect in 1994, to the global anti-MAI movement of 1998 and to the demonstrations that will take place in a few days in Genoa against the G8 meeting - anti-globalization movements within or crossing borders are now forming a massive wave of resistance, enough for the neo-liberal proponents to panic and host their meetings online or on a boat. Especially in coming November, at the WTO Meeting to be hosted in Qatar (also on a ship!), the massive wave of resistance will reach a peak as ministers negotiate the possibilities of proclaiming the 'New Round' which will promote a 'new millenium' for free trade. The Korean progressive movement must now heighten its voice against globalization and free trade which sacrifices lives of the people for profit. The government and the business sector state that 'globalization and free trade are the only ways for survival', but we must say that that 'the stop to globalization and free trade through international solidarity is the only way for survival!'

* A translation of the Korean original written as a contribution from PICIS to the weekly newspaper of Korea Youth Progressive Party(KYPP), July 16th 2001.