Joong Ang daily
5/15/2007
Seoul expects a response on the Kaesong issue at the next round of free trade talks, scheduled to start on July 16.
South Korea wants the European Union to include goods made at a North Korean industrial park in a proposed free trade agreement, casting a potential shadow over their trade negotiations, according to a South Korean negotiator yesterday.
The issue of the products from the Kaesong Industrial Complex was brought up during the first round of free trade talks last week between South Korea and the European Union.
Korea raised the issue in its recently concluded free trade talks with the United States, but the two sides agreed to discuss the matter later.
South Korea considers the industrial park, located just north of the world’s most heavily fortified border, as a model for inter-Korean economic cooperation. More than 10,000 North Korean workers have been employed by 15 South Korean companies in the pilot project, the Ministry of Unification said on its Web site.
“We asked the EU side to positively think over the Kaesong matter during the first round,” South Korean negotiator Nam Young-sook said in an interview with KBS radio. “A good result may be possible if we explain the matter’s symbolic nature well.”
The EU made no particular response to the South Korean request, Nam said, adding, “We will wait for a response in the second round.”
During the 10 months of free trade negotiations between South Korea and the United States, the industrial park was one of the thorniest issues, partially due to the North’s nuclear test in October of last year.
Park Ha-yeon, a spokeswoman of the EU’s delegation in Seoul, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Last week, South Korea and the EU finished their first round of free trade talks in Seoul, with both sides saying they made good progress.
South Korean negotiators said both sides agreed to target eliminating at least 95 percent of the tariffs on goods within 10 years of implementation.
A second round of negotiations will take place the week of July 16 in Brussels.
The EU is South Korea’s second-largest trading partner after China. Two-way trade between South Korea and the EU totaled $79.4 billion last year, and Europe is the largest foreign investor in Seoul, with $5 billion invested in 2005 alone.
