Korea-U.S. FTA Talks

Some 60 Korean anti-FTA activists from the Korean Alliance Against KORUS FTA protest against the bilateral trade pact in Seattle on Sept.6./ Yonhap

Korea and the U.S. on Feb. 3 officially announced they will conduct negotiations for a free trade pact, removing trade and investment barriers between the two. So far they have carried out five rounds of negotiations. Seoul wants to protect some agricultural items, chiefly Korean staple rice, while seeking greater opening of the U.S. textile and car market. Washington wants Seoul to open its car market. The two sides are still engaged in a tug-of-war over these issues. The planned trade deal is drawing attention from around the world since it involves not neighbors but large trading nations on different continents. Anti-FTA groups including farmers are staging violent protests against the deal, which has somehow turned into an anti-American issue here.

The president's controversial personnel decisions

Constitutional Court president nominee Jeon Hyo-sook attends a confirmation hearing at the National Assembly on Sept. 8.

The year 2006 is bracketed by controversies over President Roh Moo-hyun's nominations of key government figures. In early January, Roh appointed Rhyu Si-min as his health and welfare minister but was faced with tremendous opposition not only from the opposition parties but from the ruling party itself. But Roh overruled them. Education minister Kim Byong-joon stepped down in August due to allegation over plagiarism and recycling of academic papers. The ousted vice minister of culture and tourism Yoo Jin-ryong caused controversy when he claimed that he was sacked for refusing personnel requests made by senior presidential secretary for public information Lee Baek-man and presidential secretary for policy planning Yang Jung-chul. Roh's disastrous nomination of Jeon Hyo-sook as the new Constitutional Court president fueled another controversy and led to the president’s capitulation after a 100-day standoff.

Slasher attack on Park Geun-hye

Grand National Party chairwoman Park Geun-hye reacts after being attacked with a box cutter during a campaign for the local elections in Seoul, on May 20.

Grand National Party chairwoman Park Geun-hye was attacked with a box cutter by Ji Chung-ho, a convict out on parole, before the May 31 local elections. Park had to have 60 stitches on her face after the May 20 attack. The GNP claimed someone else masterminded the attack, but prosecutors and police concluded that Ji acted alone. The terror attack swung voters' sentiment in the elections. The GNP won 12 among the 16 large city mayor and provincial governor seats at stake. The ruling Uri Party managed to take only North Jeolla Province and won only 22 among the 230 seats for mayors of cities, county governors and district chiefs, suffering the worst-defeat in its history. Signs that the ruling party is breaking have become more visible since then.

Overheated real estate market

A realtor’s in Seoul’s Gangnam area.

Housing prices skyrocketed to the point where everyone said the real estate market has gone crazy. The government issued a series of real estate policies after housing prices surged in Gangnam and Bundang around the time rights to new apartments in Pangyo were allocated in March. Cheong Wa Dae and ministers warned housing prices in Gangnam could collapse and people could be in trouble if they bought now. But prices in the metropolitan area continued to soar, sending public trust in the government to an all-time low. Even 20-somethings started borrowing big to invest in their own home. Those who do not have a house of their own and residents in areas where prices stagnated were increasingly frustrated.

New Right ascending, unions descending

Protestors set fire to the Stars and Stripes in a video clip of anti-American protest posted on the Korean Teachers and Educational Worker's Union website.

The New Right Union established in 2004 to oppose the Roh Moo-hyun administration's progressive line and uphold principles of liberalism and the market economy rapidly improved its influence in society. Academics working for the group fueled controversy between right and left over historical perceptions of the republic's early days this year. A teachers' union and parents association that oppose the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union were set up in January and July. A new workers' union was also created to avoid the existing labor movement’s hardline focus on often violent struggle. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions alienated the public by repeatedly staging violent protests against the non-regular workers’ bill and the planned Free Trade Agreement between Korea and the U.S. The KTEWU also came under fire for offering pro-North Korean and anti-American class materials and essentially scuppering a teacher evaluation plan.

The ‘Sea Story’ gambling arcades

A Seoul outlet of the ‘Sea Story’ gambling empire.

Highly addictive arcade games such as “Sea Story” swept the nation. It was alleged that political figures including heavyweight in the ruling party were involved, and the Board of Audit and Inspection said the scandal was caused by a “total policy failure.” Prosecutors started investigations by creating a special team after the press broke the story. The director with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in charge of the matter, a former aide of ruling Uri Party lawmaker Chung Dong-chae, and a former aide of opposition Grand National Party lawmaker Park Hyeong-joon were arrested for taking bribes from companies issuing the gift certificates that represent the winnings in lieu of prize money. Rep. Cho Sung-rai, a member of president Roh's inner circle, is under suspicion of running a distributor of gift certificates, and former culture and tourism minister Chung Dong-chae is under investigation for negligence.

Former student activists spying for North Korea

Senior prosecutor Ahn Chang-ho of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office announces interim results of an investigation into an alleged North Korean spy ring on Dec.8.

The case of a North Korean spy ring dubbed Ilshimhoe and led by Chang Min-ho, a former student activist who was arrested by the National Intelligence Service in October, is the biggest since the historic inter-Korean summit on June 15, 2000. It caused controversy as Choi Ki-young, the Democratic Labor Party vice secretary general, and Lee Jung-hoon, a former DLP member, were implicated. Most of the alleged spies are former student activists, members of the so-called 386 generation who also make up the core of the administration. The majority of the information they sent to the North, prosecutors claim, was about the politicians. The party, which initially alleged a smear campaign when its leaders were implicated, later apologized.

North Korea’s nuclear test

A woman reads the Chosun Ilbo evening edition on Oct. 9 with news that North Korea said it carried out a successful nuclear test.

At 10:35 a.m. Oct. 9, North Korea rocked the world by carrying out a nuclear test. The North's Foreign Ministry followed up with the statement: “If the U.S. continues its hostile attitude and increases pressure, we will regard it as a declaration of war and will take a series of physical corresponding measures.” Within less than a week, on Oct. 15, the UN Security Council passed a resolution that included the possibility for coercive force and enacted sanctions. Later, North Korea returned to six-party talks on its nuclear programs, but the talks ended without breakthrough, increasing the likelihood of another nuclear test.

Korea’s Ban Ki-moon becomes UN secretary-general

UN General Assembly President Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa swears in the new UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the world body in New York on Dec. 14./Reuters-Newsis

Ban Ki-moon, then minister of foreign affairs and trade, was elected as the eighth UN secretary-general by the UN General Assembly on Oct. 13. Ban became the first secretary-general from an ally of the U.S. The election came 15 years after Korea joined the world body. In an acceptance speech, Ban said, “I stand before all of you today deeply mindful of the words of the oath I have just taken. Loyalty, discretion, conscience -- these, together with the Charter, will be my watchwords as I carry out my duties as secretary-general.” Ban is from Chungju, North Chungcheong Province and learned his English from foreign engineers at a fertilizer plant. His tenure is for five years starting Jan. 1, but re-election for a second term is common.

Operational control of Korean troops, and Pyongtaek relocation of the USFK

Activists clash with soldiers at the site for the new U.S. Forces Korea headquarters in Pyeongtaek in these video grabs on May 5. The footage contradicts activists' claims that they were manhandled by soldiers, showing activist chase and kick retreating soldiers (left), and soldiers jumping into ditches to avoid protestors wielding bamboo sticks whose ends were split to make them more lethal.

Controversy over the drive to obtain full operational control of Korean troops heated the country in July and August. While the government, with President Roh Moo-hyun at the helm, pushed the plan, people from all walks of life including former defense ministers, retired generals, intellectuals, former police chiefs and diplomats oppose it.

In Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi province, the plan to move the U.S. Forces Korea headquarters from Seoul’s Yongsan to Pyeongtaek galvanized opposition from residents and activists in April and May. A video clip showing soldiers violently assaulted by demonstrators caused controversy.

(englishnews@chosun.com )