S. Korea spent $3.39 mln in past 5 years to lobby U.S. Congress: report

SEOUL, Sept. 20 (Yonhap) -- South Korea paid consultants a total of US$3.39 million over the past five years to lobby the U.S. Congress on its behalf, a report showed Tuesday.
The report, submitted by the foreign ministry to Rep. Choi Byung-gook of the ruling Grand National Party, showed that the South Korean embassy in Washington spent the sum on contracts with lobbying firms such as Scribe Strategies and Advisors, and Thomas Capitol Partners Inc., between 2007 and 2011. Each firm was tasked with lobbying either the upper or lower house for a fixed period of time, it said.
"We have been using professional consulting firms to strengthen our diplomacy vis-a-vis the U.S. Congress, considering the large influence the Congress has on U.S. foreign policy," the ministry said.
The lobbying produced such results as a U.S. House of Representatives' resolution condemning North Korea for sinking the South Korean warship Cheonan in March last year, it said. Lobbyists also led Congress to pass a joint resolution commemorating the 60th anniversary of the 1950-53 Korean War -- in which the U.S. fought alongside the South -- and reaffirming the alliance between Seoul and Washington.
Meanwhile, South Korea spent an additional $1.54 million between 2006 and 2010 to gain legal advice and other help from American consulting firms on a free trade agreement with the U.S., the ministry said. The deal, signed in 2007 and supplemented last December, has yet to be ratified by either country.