South Korea, US Conclude First Review Of KORUS FTA

South Korea and the United States have held two days of talks in Washington looking at the progress made in implementing the South Korea-United States free trade agreement (KORUS FTA) in the three months since it entered into force on March 15 this year.

The South Korean foreign ministry reported that the two countries have set up joint committees, subcommittees and working groups for goods, services and investment to check implementation of the agreement. In particular, during these talks, discussions were held on the ways that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) could take advantage of the opportunities presented by the KORUS FTA.

It was said that further talks will be held after enough time has elapsed for each side to examine the matters covered over the two days.

It is expected that further discussions will also be needed shortly to resolve any changes that can be agreed to the investor-state dispute (ISD) clause in the FTA. It was reported that the matter was mentioned over the two days, but that the South Korean government still needs to clarify its own thoughts on the clause before the matter can be taken further.

The parliamentary opposition had, in fact, called for the cancellation of the ISD clause, claiming that it could open South Korean companies, particularly SMEs, to attack from US companies on domestic regulations established for the protection of local industries, and the government had promised to open negotiations with the US within 90 days of KORUS FTA’s entry into force.

June 12, 2012

Source: Tax News