| International News

"The government is sacrificing farmers at the cost of selling more industrial products. The FTA will take away any hope left for farmers and kill farming communities," Isidore Kwoun Oh-su told UCA News on April 2.

"The agreement is unpardonable and we will fight it," added Kwoun, chairperson of Andong diocese's unit of the Korean Catholic Farmers' Movement (KCFM). The movement will spread the campaign nationwide, demanding that lawmakers not ratify the agreement, he said.

On April 2, officials announced the signing of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, after nine months of negotiations. Under its terms, South Korea will received wider access to the U.S. textile and automobile markets by eliminating nearly all tariffs. In return, South Korea will allow market access for U.S. exports and agricultural products. For the pact to become law, both national legislatures must approve it.

On the same day the agreement was signed, Andong diocese's Committee for Justice and Peace and the local KCFM unit organized a prayer rally and Mass at Moksong-dong Cathedral in Andong, 190 kilometers (about 120 miles) southeast of Seoul. The diocesan vicar general, second to the bishop in authority, presided at the Mass, which 25 diocesan priests concelebrated. Some 250 Religious and Catholic farmers attended.

Afterward, laypeople, priests and religious marched from the cathedral to a nearby square with placards saying, "We oppose the Korea-U.S. FTA." Some 100 other protesters from civil groups opposing the FTA joined the march.

The FTA "doesn't just mean the elimination of tariffs," Andong KCFM chaplain Father Peter Kim Si-young argued in his Mass homily. "It will make Korea's economy and society subject to American standards."

Father Kim spoke with UCA News after the Mass. The FTA "will ruin agriculture in Korea and bring economic ruin to the farmers," he warned. "Korean society will change to fit an American standard full of competition, and socially weak people will suffer. Following Jesus Christ, who cared for and chose the poor as a preferential option, we have to oppose the FTA."

According to the priest, "The government estimates 2-trillion-won (US$2.1 billion) in losses in the 20-trillion-won agricultural sector because of the FTA." But he predicted the losses "will be higher than that" and will wipe out local farming.

By his estimate, 40 percent of the people living in the area of Andong diocese are farmers, while the other 60 percent make a living by offering services to farmers. "If farming collapses, our diocese will lose its existence too," he said.

Father Michael An Sang-gi, in charge of pastoral activities for the diocese, told UCA News on April 2 that "in the agricultural sector, Korea cannot compete with the United States."

Government Information Agency data for 2005 lists the price of beef bred in Korea as $55 (USD) program, while U.S. beef cost $9 (USD).

Under the agreement, U.S. farm exports to Korea would become duty-free immediately and most remaining agricultural tariffs would be phased out over 10 years starting from when the agreement is enacted.

President Roh Moo-hyon, in his April 2 statement following the announcement of the trade pact, argued that the FTA would be a good chance for South Korea to enter the community of developed countries.

With the FTA, Korean companies can charge competitive prices in the U.S. market for cars, textiles and electronics, he said, promising that his government would compensate farmers for their losses in income.

South Korea is the world's 10th-largest economy and the United States' seventh-largest trading partner, while the United States is South Korea's third-largest market, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. It recorded US$72 billion in two-way trade in 2006.