Korean Job Discussion Forums

[freethought]

I spent last night talking to the department heads of a Korean company about this deal. All of them were for it, or perhaps some weren't but were too afraid to speak up in front of colleagues. The parallels between this and the FTA are rampant, especially when you factor in national mentality, relative population size etc. This agreement will invariably have a period of adjustment, but as to what exactly will happen, I'm not sure.

When the FTA was signed critics cried that it would be the end to certain Canadian agricultural products, especially wine. That's totally changed. Canadian wine went from specializing in swill that would make fermented Welch's taste good, to award winning reds and varietals. It's also fueled the demand for ice wine.

The non-inclusion of rice wasn't a big deal, though it does show how out of touch Koreans seem to be. American rice would never be produced as cheaply as rice from other nations in this region, and soon ASEAN will require FTA in certain things, and I believe rice is one of them. That agreement, as I recall, was ASEAN +3, which means China will be included, as will Korea and Japan.

As for those saying Canada got screwed by the FTA, you have no idea what you're talking about. Such a statement is incorrect on the basis of NET gain, but also incorrect in that it's not the FTA that is causing these problems, but American lobbyists, and congressmen. The FTA is being violated, which means it isn't screwing us, but rather others are.

[riverboy]

Canada lost many manufacturing jobs to the US and the energy clause in the free trade agreement is pretty scary.

[freethought]

[thepeel]

The manufacturing jobs would have been lost anyways. This was why an FTA was needed.

[JeJuJitsu]

[stevemcgarrett]

My God in Glorious Heaven, what is this world coming to when I find myself in almost complete agreement with Octavius and freethought on the same topic at the same moment.

Shiver me timbers.

On another note:

What the anti-free trade crowd, which is at their core protectionist, can never accept is that it is inevitable that some will lose economic clout in the transition to the new economic arrangement. But some whose business practices are substandard or suspect deserve to go under. And the best will rebound, or venture out generating as much or more business for themselves.

Korea's economy is antiquated. It is a lumbering brontosaurus that needs to morph into a raptor. The U.S. experienced similar growing pains in the 1970s when Japanese goods flooded into the market.

Here's a thought: maybe Korean should diversify. Maybe beef is something they can't produce--certainly not in quantity at a fair price.

Maybe the government needs to break up the chaebols just as Standard Oil and Ma Bell were in the U.S. decades ago. Gee, what a novel concept! But that would require business to be more transparent.

And when has transparency ever been a hallmark of business dealings in East Asia?

As for U.S. wanting to look out for it's own interests--so what? We shouldn't have it any other way. We're still getting chiseled on the entry of autos into the Korean market same as the Koreans have been doing to the Japanese for years.

Wake up and smell the coffee, Korea!

[jhaelin]

i didn't have the patience to sift through all the postings so this comment may have already been addressed...

an often neglected but important aspect of this fta deal is regarding the intellectual property rights issues.
sure its really nice for the comsumer to have access to more foreign goods at lower prices but what happens when the opposite effect occurs.

for instance, koreans and expats mays get cheaper beef but in exchange they will have to pay much more for prescription drugs.
sure they may now have more choices of hollywood films and american tv programming to choose from, but all internet exchange will become much more heavily regulated.

it is essential to recognize that fta's are not perpetrated by business interests to gain greater access to the consumers of other countries...
but rather fta's are pursued to gain greater access and conformity of the laws in target countries.
often and sadly this results in less consumer access and choice, as large multinationals gain greater control over the sovereign laws of target nations.

lets take the rice farming issue as a case example.
sure rice farming in korea is not as efficient as the mechanized large scale farming in usa, and this is why it can't compete.
the ideal of opening up the rice market completely would intitally seem to improve consumer choice as lower priced rice will be available.
but opening completely would also entail the influx of gm (genetically modified) rice, as well as other heavily industrialized farm products (e.g. artificially fertilized, chemically treated).
i'm not suggesting that korean farming is organic nor necessarily safer than the mass-produced farm goods grown in agricultural-factories of the US.
but the importance of maintaining an indigenous farming community is to prevent the complete global monopoly of humanity's food supply by a handful of multinational conglomerates.

when it comes to the food we eat,
do we really want it produced in the cheapest and most cost effective way possible?
can we really trust the capitalist doctrine of profit to insure the quality and safety of our food?

we can ask these questions about other important goods that become less diverse with the complete opening up of international markets:
prescription drugs,
media,
etc.

[stevemcgarrett]

jhaelin:

The Chinese and Thais produce and export cheap quality rice every year. How do they manage without mechanization or use of GM? Face it: Korean rice is overpriced (and not that good tasting anyhow).

Korea needs to diversity, and in the process diversify it's thinking. The latter will be the bigger hurdle to jump.

[JeJuJitsu]

[jhaelin]

[stevemcgarrett]

The Koreans don't want competition--never have. This from the AP demonstrates once again that we have to cave in to their insistence on protectionism. It's still a flawed pact:

[jhaelin]

[JeJuJitsu]

[jhaelin]

[bucheon bum]