South Korea’s ruling party yesterday forced a long-stalled free trade deal with the US through parliament, enraging opposition lawmakers who blasted their political rivals with tear gas.
South Korean lawmakers voted 151 to 7 in favor of ratifying the landmark trade agreement in a surprise legislative session called by the Grand National Party, parliamentary officials said.
Shouts and screams filled the National Assembly as ruling party lawmakers forced their way onto the parliamentary floor. Amid the scuffles, one opposition lawmaker doused rivals with tear gas.
Photo: AFP
Security guards hustled him out of the chamber as he shouted and tried to resist.
Outside the National Assembly building, opponents of the deal scuffled with police mobilized to maintain order.
The pact is the US’ biggest free-trade agreement since the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. Two-way trade between the US and South Korea, Asia’s fourth-largest economy, totaled about US$90 billion last year, according to the South Korean government.
After the deal was approved less than an hour after the tussle began, dozens of opposition lawmakers and aides — who fought hard to prevent passage of an agreement they say favors US over South Korean workers — sat slumped around the chamber podium.
The presidential Blue House welcomed the deal’s passage, pledging in a statement to use it as a chance to boost the economy and create jobs.
The main opposition Democratic Party said it would boycott all other parliamentary sessions in protest and demanded that top ruling party leaders resign.
Lawmakers have been wrangling over ratification of the free- trade deal since US Congress and President Barack Obama approved the deal last month after years of divisive debate in the US.
A key sticking point was a provision that opponents say would allow investors to take disputes falling under the agreement’s jurisdiction to a US-influenced international arbitration panel. The opposition calls for removal of the provision.
Lee offered to seek renegotiation of the provision if the opponents in parliament vote for ratification. However, the Democratic Party rebuffed his proposal, saying negotiations should take place first.
Economist Jung Tae-in said the trade deal would widen the gap between haves and have-nots.
“South Korea will falter in the early stages of the implementation of the deal because the United States is economically more powerful,” he said.
However, Kim Jung-sik, an economics professor at Seoul’s Yonsei University, said fears about damage to South Korea’s economy were overblown.
“Free trade still works to South Korea’s advantage because the country is so reliant on exports,” Kim said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement yesterday that it would work to get the trade deal to take effect on Jan. 1 next year.
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