U.S. Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton has proposed renegotiation of the free trade deal with South Korea, citing an imbalance in auto trade and restrictions in beef shipments.
"If the South Koreans are willing to re-engage negotiations on these vital provisions of the agreement, we will work with them to get to resolution," Clinton said in written answers submitted to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday as part of her high-profile confirmation hearing.
Clinton was echoing President-elect Barack Obama's opposition to the free trade agreement with South Korea, still awaiting congressional approval after it was signed in June 2007.
House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel also called for renegotiation of the Korea FTA on the auto issue Wednesday, according to Reuters.
"If they fought as hard for cars as they did for beef, we wouldn't have that problem," he told reporters.
Rangel was talking about U.S. pressure on South Korea that led to resumption of U.S. beef shipments last year after a suspension in 2003 due to a mad cow disease case in the U.S.
Obama, who once called the Korea FTA "badly flawed," has specifically talked about an imbalance in auto trade, noting that South Korea exports more than 700,000 autos to the U.S. annually while importing just 6,000.
South Korea contests such statistics, saying the figures include 250,000 units made at an Alabama plant by South Korea's largest automaker, Hyundai, and exclude more than 125,000 automobiles sold in South Korea by GM Daewoo, a Korean subsidiary of GM.
Beef imports are another issue, as South Korea banned shipments from cattle more than 30 months old amid weeks of street rallies in Seoul early last year due to concerns over mad cow disease.
Despite the partial ban on beef from older cattle, U.S. beef secured the biggest market share in South Korea late last year, when Seoul resumed U.S. beef imports. The ban stemmed from cases of mad cow disease in the U.S. in 2003.
Clinton called on South Korea to provide "genuine improvements" in the auto industry and other market sectors.
Under the deal, she said, "The United States would lose its remaining leverage to counteract these non-tariff barriers. The result will be a competitive handicap for one of our most important industries."
Neither parliament has ratified the free trade deal, with the Democrat-controlled Congress bowing to major trade unions.
U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab Tuesday urged Congress to approve the deal, saying it will boost the U.S. GDP by US$10 billion to $12 billion annually, helping the U.S. economy recover from the current economic recession.
On North Korea, the former first lady said "no decision has been made" on whether to appoint a special envoy to the six-party talks on ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions. Also uncertain is the establishment of liaison offices in the respective capitals.
Clinton told the confirmation hearing Tuesday that she would engage North Korea directly as well as by way of the six-party talks to address its alleged uranium-based nuclear program and suspected nuclear proliferation.
She apparently endorsed Obama's campaign pledge to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and any other leaders without preconditions, saying, "Smart power requires reaching out to both friends and adversaries, to bolster old alliances and to forge new ones."