U.S. Senator Barack Obama, currently the strongest contender for the Democrat presidential nomination, has expressed reservations about the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement.
Obama, congratulating South Korean president-elect Lee Myung-bak on his election on Feb. 11, said the Korea-U.S. FTA does not meet the "standard" of reciprocity. Obama added he has “no illusions" about North Korea. He said the Korea-U.S. alliance “has been adrift in recent years.” They were the clearest statements yet of Obama’s views on Korea-related matters.
"The U.S.-ROK alliance has been a remarkably strong and successful one. Forged in blood during the Korean War more than a half-century ago, the alliance has sustained itself through the crucible of the cold war and remains central to U.S. security policy in East Asia,” Obama told Lee according to congressional records. "Nonetheless, I do not think it is an overstatement to say that the U.S.-Korea relationship has been adrift in recent years."
He blamed North Korea. "I have no illusions about North Korea, and we must be firm and unyielding in our commitment to a non-nuclear Korean peninsula," Obama said. The “unsteady approach” by the allies over recent years “has allowed North Korea to expand its nuclear arsenal as it has resumed reprocessing of plutonium and tested a nuclear device."
The presidential hopeful said Korea-U.S. economic relations “also benefited both nations and deepened our ties. I look forward as well to supporting ways to increase our bilateral trade and investment ties through agreements paying proper attention to our key industries and agricultural sectors, such as autos, rice, and beef, and to protection of labor and environmental standards. Regrettably, the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement does not meet this standard."
He expressed discontent at South Korea's import ban on bone-in cuts of American beef, the Korea-U.S. FTA's exclusion of the rice market and the degree of opening of the auto market.
He urged U.S. President George W. Bush to invite Lee to the White House as soon as possible to restore the "crucial" bilateral relationship. "In the process, we need to work with South Korea on a common vision for the alliance to meet the challenges of the 21st century, not only those on the Korean Peninsula but in the region and beyond."
"I congratulate president-elect Lee on his election, pass on my good wishes for him and the Korean people for his inauguration, and honor the Korean people for their vibrant democracy. I look forward to the opportunity to work with him in the years ahead to replenish and revitalize this crucial relationship,” he concluded
The U.S. Congress at the end of each congressional session publishes all the printed statements by senators and congressmen for permanent preservation in the archives.
