Han Duck-soo, the Korea Times anointed “FTA Czar” announces that the educational market is off the table as well in the FTA talks One more thing. Sigh!
Meanwhile the “Czar” continues to be quoted in the Hani with:
Once again the FTA is only “pain and toil” not cheaper prices and great availability of goods. Further it is something “we have to” do, its not a take it or leave it proposition. With quotes like this it is little wonder these FTA foes Han is trying to campaign against get great currency out of allegations that the US is “forcing” Korea into an FTA that will “destroy” Korea. Heck, it almost sounds like Han is actually willing to join them.
Not to be outdone, President Roh has to pile on:
“History shows that there were successful civilizations or failed ones after their markets were opened. But civilizations that had shut themselves out all collapsed,” Roh said. “So, we should open ourselves and see whether we’ll succeed or fail.”
We now have Roh making a stand even worse that Han. The FTA is not “pain and toil” short term and better long term, but the FTA is something that has the potential to to make Korea “fail” as a country. And again note the pessimism, Korea will “collapse” without it and may “fail” with it. Again I wonder what side Roh really is on in this debate.
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Word on the street is that the US never was serious about the education market. The worse the education is here, the more likely the rich kids are to be sent to the US to study. And to pump their goose-daddy’s hard-earned won into the US economy.
That sounds like an awful lot of trouble for a relatively small amount of money. It would be far more profitable to have an educated South Korean populous that understands what free trade is, and what a real threat to their safety is. I’m not saying America 100% everything possible to improve education in Korea, but I highly doubt they went through all the trouble required to accomplish what you’re speaking of.
Excellent commentary
I think you are being too harsh on Roh for this one. Sure, they could do a better job to sell their case to the public, but one little thing that the current administration has done right was to push hard for the FTA, despite the fact that there are tons of fanatically loonies in the organizations comprising of farmers, unions, professional student agitators, and pro-NK anti-Americans, who are predictably threatning to shut down the entire country for their ideology. It takes some courage to face down your main crazed loon supporters who voted you in.
It seems they want their cake and to be able to eat it, too. Enjoy the benefits of an FTA while closing off areas where pain might be felt. It seems that with the roadblocks piling ever higher and deeper, why bother? Do they really want free trade?
No, they do not.
Darin - it’s not a lot of trouble to put something into a negotiating package that you don’t really want to fight for; negotiators do that every time. And it is not a small amount of money; if one counts foreign students of all ages and levels of schooling, Koreans are the most numerous in the US. My point is only that this is one of the sectors the US side is quite obviously not willing to go all out for.
However the concept of a “goose-daddy” and his “hard-earned won” would depend on said “goose-daddy” having a decent education to earn such won in the first place. Not having a decent education system to begin with would mean no goose-daddy, and no money for the US either.
Plus, I do think there are plenty of people in Korea that would say that the US doesn’t control everything in all sectors of Korea including education. Even if the US wanted to hold the Korean people down, could they? It is the Korean, not American education system after all.
I have stated from the start I believe the Korean government has set up the FTA negociations as precisely a way to mobilize its base - the “tons of fanatically loonies in the organizations comprising of farmers, unions, professional student agitators, and pro-NK anti-Americans”.
But, also to mobilize more than them.
Crying for rice farmers (and more) does tug on the heart strings of many middle-of-the-road (motr) Koreans. Bashing the IMF, WTO, opening markets, and such does influence a good many motrs.
So, having the FTA as a recurrent news item for the next year (to go along with base expasion and all the issues tied to it (like environmental degradation)) will be good for the core Uri support groups to grab banner headlines and gain the sympathy of some people who have been angry at Roh - even if the conservative press speaks out against such activity.
I should have added that my belief from the start was that the Roh administration didn’t believe the FTA would go through and that it was willing to take a beating in public for the team since Roh can’t run again for president: that the idea was hopefuls in the admin could jump ship and whip up public support by bashing the hell out of Roh’s FTA plans.