Anti-FTA or Anti-American?
Korea and the EU started FTA talks today. Incredibly where’s all the anti-FTA protesters? They were actively disruptive and annoying during the KORUS1 negotiations.
From the Chosun Ilbo:
On June 3 last year, three days before the first round of Korea-U.S. free trade negotiations opened, 1,300 anti-FTA protesters held a rally at the Jongmyo Shrine in downtown Seoul. Some 40 anti-FTA demonstrators went to the U.S. to oppose the trade talks, waving banners and took to the streets. Eleven months later, Korea started the first round of free trade talks with the EU on Monday. But there were no big anti-FTA protests in Seoul during the negotiating period. About 20 anti-FTA protesters gathered and called for the cancellation of the trade talks in front of the Shilla Hotel, the negotiating venue, on Monday morning, but that was all. Seoul Metropolitan Police said no anti-FTA rallies were reported.
If so many mainstream Koreans2 have such anti-US hard-ons, why does Korea have the most number of students studying at American schools, outranking countries such as Japan, India and China? Nearly 100,000 of them. Or the daily hundreds who line up at the US Embassy for a travel visa or to get a crack at the golden, American Dream?
Contradictions abound.
- Korea-US FTA↩
- I am unable to hold at-length rational discussions on the US-Korea relations without expletives being strewn about↩
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.