Seoul (The Korea Herald/ANN) - South Korean
president Lee Myung-bak on Tuesday signed a package of bills needed to
implement the Korea-U.S. free trade pact, finalizing the ratification
procedures and bringing the deal closer to effectuation early next year.
During a Cabinet meeting he presided over, Lee
put his signatures on 14 related bills concerning copyrights, patents, customs,
trade secret protection and other domestic rules to ensure the smooth
implementation of the pact.
The signing came a week after the National
Assembly passed the pact and related bills as the ruling Grand National Party
railroaded them with its majority power despite vehement objection from
opposition parties.
"This signing concludes the ratification
process. The Korea-U.S. free trade pact is to open the door of the world's
largest market, the U.S. market," Lee was quoted as saying by his
spokesperson Park Jeong-ha.
"We should make thorough preparations for
some industries that could suffer from the opening of the market and let's
think of it as an opportunity to sharpen our competitive edge."
Lee already signed the motion to ratify the
deal before sending it to the National Assembly for approval in June.
Lee also instructed his government to give sufficient
explanations on the FTA ratification to the public as there are many
misunderstandings and unfounded rumors about the deal.
"Make sure that each relevant ministry
gives a detailed explanation to citizens about their misunderstandings, and
that there are no more misconceptions about the deal." Following the legal
promulgation process, Seoul and Washington will begin talks to discuss the
exact date for the deal's effectuation and other details concerning its
implementation. They seek to have the deal go into effect on Jan. 1.
After the bills were signed, politicians from
the main opposition Democratic Party and other opposition parties upped their
offensive against Lee and the GNP, saying that the ruling bloc will face
"strong resistance" from citizens.
Some 35 former and current opposition
lawmakers from the DP and other parties including the leftwing Democratic Labor
Party staged a protest in front of Cheong Wa Dae in the morning, urging Lee not
to sign the bills.
"Should he sign them, he would face
strong resistance, which will, at last, lead to the collapse of his
regime," they said during their protest in front of the presidential
office.
"Even if he signed them, the
implementation of the pact will stop after parliamentary elections next year,
and after the change of the government, everything will go back to square
one."
The Seoul and Washington government signed the
pact in June 2007 to tear down trade barriers between the long-standing allies.
Following some five months of additional
negotiations to address unaddressed concerns for both sides, they signed the
revised deal in February. The U.S. Congress approved the pact when Lee was
visiting Washington last month.
The Seoul government said that the pact will
help create jobs, increase exports and further strengthen the bilateral
alliance. But critics said that some parts of it should be renegotiated to
protect local industries and "economic sovereignty."
Following its passage at the legislature here,
thousands of anti-FTA protesters took to the streets, denouncing the ruling
party and the president. The DP has boycotted parliamentary sessions, arguing
that the pact should be nullified.
When the pact with the U.S. takes effect,
Korea will have free trade agreements with a total of 45 countries including
Chile, Singapore, India and Peru.
Song Sang-ho in Seoul/The Korea Herald | ANN
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