Investor Dispute Clause Holds Up KORUS FTA

While South Korea’s main opposition Democratic Party (DP) is still blocking the passage of the South Korea–United States free trade agreement (KORUS FTA) in a parliamentary committee, opposition is now centred on the agreement’s investor-state dispute (ISD) settlement clause.

The DP had aready been demanding that the agreement should be re-balanced. The party believes that, following its renegotiation last December, the treaty is now too favourable to the US, and that it should be further renegotiated.