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    Korea
     Jun 10, 2006
US experts say Gaesong issue is a non-starter

WASHINGTON - American observers predicted Thursday that a controversial North Korean industrial complex would not be covered in a free trade agreement (FTA) between South Korea and the United States.

One expert questioned whether the nations even have the will necessary to conclude the controversial accord.

Speaking at a seminar sponsored by the Korea Economic Institute in downtown Washington, Balbina Hwang and Jeffrey



Schott said the issue of Gaesong industrial complex is a non-starter in the trade negotiations.

"It won't be included because the US negotiators would not be able to sell the agreement to the Congress," said Schott, a senior fellow with the Institute for International Economics (IIE).

Hwang, senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, was more blunt.

"It will be impossible," she said.

South Korea and the United States began official FTA talks this week, combing through each other's proposals to sort out consensus and differences. Agriculture, automobiles, pharmaceuticals and regulatory transparency have been highlighted as key differences.

Including products made in the Gaesong industrial complex, a zone located just north of the inter-Korean border, in the FTA is one of Seoul's strongest demands that Washington's negotiators have not yet agreed to formally address.

The complex houses South Korean manufacturing plants employing North Korean workers, an idea borne out of belief that combining the South's capital with the cheaper labor of the North would produce price-competitive export items.

The US questions labor practices there and suspects the wages given to the workers are actually going to North Korean leaders.

"There are great concerns about some of the abusive practices of North Korean regime," Schott said. "It would be very difficult to include benefits in an FTA for North Korea while these practices continue."

Kaesong would be a "lightening rod" for all US concerns about the Pyongyang regime, he argued.

Hwang said by demanding Gaesong's inclusion in the FTA, South Korea was forcing the US make a "dangerous" choice, telling the U. to accept both South and North Korea.

"The US is going to say no to everything... say 'neither of you,'" she said.

(Asia Pulse/Yonhap)

 

 
 



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