GNP to introduce S. Korea-U.S. free trade agreement before parliament in June: lawmaker

By Kim Eun-jung
SEOUL, June 13 (Yonhap) -- The ruling Grand National Party (GNP) will try to introduce the long-pending free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States to the National Assembly this month to seek parliamentary approval of the deal, a lawmaker said Monday.
The move will set in motion what is expected to be a contentious process to ratify the trade pact that was signed in 2007 and supplemented last December. Opposition parties are against endorsing the accord, claiming it favors the U.S.
The U.S. Congress has not yet ratified the pact either.
"There are many opinions that an FTA ratification bill should be introduced during this extraordinary session," Rep. Yoo Ki-june, a GNP leader on the parliamentary foreign affairs and trade committee, told Yonhap News Agency.
"We will push actively to bring up the bill in this extraordinary session," he said.
The parliamentary committee plans to hold a public hearing session on Thursday to discuss safeguard measures for local industries before approving the pact, Yoo said.
The GNP will also form a consultation body composed of ruling and opposition party legislators as well as government officials, including ministers of foreign affairs, trade and finance, to discuss further measures, party officials said.
The planned bill is expected to encounter tough resistance, as the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) and other opposition groups claim that the pact is unbalanced in favor of the U.S. The DP has been calling for a renegotiation of the agreement.
"There should first be a renegotiation" before bringing the pact before parliament, said Rep. Kim Dong-chul, who is the DP's leader on the parliamentary committee.
The GNP controls 171 seats of the 299-member parliament.
ejkim@yna.co.kr