• Listen to this segment

GUEST: Thomas P. Kim, Executive Director of Korea Policy Institute, Christine Anh, Korean Americans for Fair Trade

Korean Americans nationally began this weekend a series of national actions, rallies, and public awareness events as Trade Representatives from Korea and the United States began another round of talks for the Korean-US Free Trade Agreement (KorUS FTA) on February 11th. This agreement if signed would become for the United States the second largest trade deal after NAFTA. At stake for both countries is 72 billion dollars in business between the two in trade annually. With the majority of South Koreans against the agreement, South Korean protests against it have been ongoing. Last November during the first round of talks over 100,000 peasants, farmers, and workers took to the streets in protest. In response, the Government instituted a ban against public FTA protests, and has not allowed commercials airing against the FTA to air on television. Korean peasants and workers are afraid of American imports like rice devastating their local economy. For the United States failure to win these talks would illustrate the inability of the US to conclude bilateral free-trade agreements with major emerging-market economies in Asia, ceding to the Europeans “ global leadership” in setting standards for future deals.

For more information, visit www.kaft.org, www.kpolicy.org and www.kawanlist.blogspot.com