Korea-Chile FTA Marks Third Anniversary Is There an Alternative to the Korea-U.S. FTA? Korea-U.S. FTA Faces Big Hurdle in Parliament Korea Must Face FTA Challenge: Roh The Korea-U.S. FTA Will Bring More Gain Than Pain Man Sets Himself on Fire in Protest at Korea-U.S. FTA Deal Clinched on Korea-U.S. FTA What the Korea-U.S. FTA Means for Tariffs Korea's Neighbors See FTA as a Smart Move Korea-U.S. FTA Divides Politicians Across Party Lines Korea, U.S. Still at Odds Over Kaesong Goods What They Want Us to Know About the FTA (and What They Don’t) What the FTA Will Mean for Consumer Prices

Korea and the U.S. officially announced the conclusion of negotiations in a joint press conference at the Hyatt Hotel in Seoul at 4 p.m. Monday. Korean Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong said the FTA includes all trade-related areas from products and services to anti-dumping rules, investment and competition. He called it “the world’s largest free trade deal” since the U.S. clinched NAFTA.

U.S. President George W. Bush has notified Congress that trade talks have been concluded. The FTA is expected to serve as a catalyst for Korea to rescue its economy from a protracted downturn.

Korean and U.S. national flags flutter side by side in front of a hotel in Gwanghwamun, downtown Seoul on Monday, the day the two struck a historic free trade agreement.

Thirty years ago, in 1977, Korea laid the foundations for industrialization by reaching the landmark of US$10 billion in exports. Ten years later, in 1987, a public outcry for democratization helped the nation ease the side effects of rapid economic growth. And in 1997, Korea was caught on the threshold of building an open society by the Asian financial crisis and was forced by the International Monetary Fund to open its market.

Because Korea’s markets were forced open rather than opening organically in their own time, the result was a measure of popular resentment of foreign capital, especially when overseas hedge funds snapped up local firms at dumping prices. But some hope the Korea-U.S. FTA will change that. Ahn Duk-geun of Seoul National University’s Graduate School of International Studies called it “a chance for the Korean economy to bear fruit of the seeds it sowed with industrialization some 30 years ago.”

The deal is also expected to serve as a propellant for Korea to join the club of fully advanced nations over the next 30 years. Indeed, investment bank Goldman Sachs says the Korean economy has the potential to become second only to the U.S. in the world in terms of per-capita income in 2050 if it aggressively pursues market opening.

From left: Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Karan Bhatia, U.S. chief negotiator Wendy Cutler, Korean chief negotiator Kim Jong-hoon and Korea's Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong

News of the Korea-U.S. FTA has already put the wind up neighboring countries. Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai recently indicated his nation’s determination to clinch a free trade deal with Korea, reportedly saying in a private conversation China would “run into the FTA with Korea with its eyes closed.” His remarks hint at Beijing’s view that binding China and Korea into a single economic bloc would allow China to check the Korea-U.S. economic alliance. The Japanese, meanwhile, are worried that the deal could sharpen the competitiveness of Korean firms, accelerating the “hollowing out” of Japan’s manufacturing industry.

Korean chief negotiator Kim Jong-hoon likened the FTA to an expressway junction. “When you miss an expressway junction, you are bound to lose time and money,” Kim said. “The junction Korea cannot afford to miss is the Korea-U.S. FTA.”

(englishnews@chosun.com )