KORUS FTA will be in effect soon or not?

South Korea and the United States are in the progress of implementing a Free Trade Agreement deal. To see how South Korean press and Foreign press views the KORUS FTA, I selected one article from the Hankyoreh, a popular South Korean newspaper, and another from the Wall Street Journal, an internationally famous newspaper.

Currently South Korea's largest opposition party, the Democratic Party(DP), has been opposing against the final approval of the KORUS FTA. Also, protests from interest groups that disadvantage from the implementation of the Free Trade Agreement are likely to occur. However, despite these oppositions, the Wall Street Journal viewed that sooner or later the FTA will be passed anyway. It said that the implementation KORUS FTA is a matter of time. Also, it said that according to data from Korean Federation of Industries, the FTA will boost Korea's economic output by 5.6% in 10years and will create 350,000 jobs. 

In case of the Hankyoreh, it views the KORUS FTA with criticism. The Korean government has not spent enough time to make a fair deal with the United States. The ruling Grand National Party(GNP) has been pushing the ratification bill without carefully scrutinizing the provisions in the KORUS FTA. For example, according to the U.S. version of KORUS FTA, Korean firms are not able to sue the United States court trials, while the firms from the United States may sue Korean firms and Korean government in court. The newspaper argues that this deal is an unequal agreement but the Korean government does not care much about how there are provisions that severely disadvantage South Korean firms. It further argues that the agreement should not be passed unless such clauses are modified.

The Wall Street Journal concentrates on the economic benefits of the KORUS FTA, while the Hankyoreh writes about the disadvantages that may disadvantage Korean firms when the KORUS FTA becomes in effect. Neither of these articles are telling lies but their writings are only representing one side. To understand the whole story of KORUS FTA it is crucial to read both sides of the story.