[CTC] USTR: TPP Negotiations Shift Into Higher Gear at 16th Round

[Arthur Stamoulis]

http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_international/577175.html

Minister nominee alludes to revisiting controversial ISD clause
posted on : Mar.8,2013 12:31 KST
By Lee Seung-jun, staff reporter

Yoon Sang-jick has said that if confirmed as minister he would reopen
discussions with the US on KORUS FTA’s most contentious clause

The nominee for Minister of Industry, Trade and Resources said he
plans to push for renegotiation of the controversial investor-state
dispute (ISD) provision in the South Korea-US Free Trade Agreement
(KORUS FTA).

Speaking at a hearing before the National Assembly’s Knowledge Economy
Committee on Mar. 6, nominee Yoon Sang-jick said that if confirmed as
minister, he would “discuss the matter with the US as soon as the
South Korean procedures are finished.” His remarks came in response to
a question from Democratic United Party lawmaker Park Wan-ju, who
asked if Yoon had any plans to renegotiate the ISD clause.

Yoon went on to say that future discussions would address whether the
new discussions would be “renegotiations” to significantly change the
clause’s wording, or “talks toward changing the content of the
agreement.”

A bipartisan resolution to urge renegotiation of the KORUS FTA was
passed in 2011 after the ISD system became the subject of controversy
over what observers saw as terms that compromised the sovereignty of
South Korean courts. No progress has been made on the renegotiations
since then.

Yoon clarified that he was thinking more of reopening discussions than
of renegotiating the KORUS FTA.

“Renegotiation means amending the text of the agreement, but I think
we can improve the institutional aspects without doing that by
reopening discussions,” he said, mentioning the possibility of
including a “side letter” in the agreement as one option.

In response to a question about the ISD suit filed against the South
Korean government by the US private equity fund Lone Star, Yoon said
he would “have to check how much information can be disclosed about
that, since it’s currently under international arbitration.”

Yoon also fielded questions about South Korea’s participation in
negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership
(TPP), a multilateral FTA currently being spearheaded by the US.

“Our trade policy focus to date has been on becoming an FTA hub, but
the TPP is a bit different in that it would be a regional policy,”
Yoon said. “I would have to see how the process goes and what the pros
and cons of participating are.”

Please direct questions or comments to [english at hani.co.kr]
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