US team arrives in S Korea for trade talks amid protests

SEOUL: US trade negotiator Wendy Cutler has arrived in South Korea for new talks on striking a bilateral free trade pact and was met with immediate protests demanding an end to negotiations.

Cutler, assistant US trade representative, called for a ‘win-win’ deal that would benefit both Seoul and Washington upon arrival at Incheon International Airport, west of the South Korean capital.

But scores of protesters rallied loudly at the airport. “Immediately stop negotiations. The US negotiating team should return home,’ the protesters said in a statement read at the airport, agency reports said.

The two sides will open a second round of talks aimed at forging a free trade agreement (FTA) for five days from Monday. The talks were first launched in Washington last month.

South Korea, Asia’s fourth largest economy, is the seventh biggest trade partner of the United States. Bilateral trade reached $72bn last year, according to foreign ministry data.

Both sides hope to conclude the talks in March next year. But South Korean farmers, unions, film industry workers and activists are opposed to any market-opening measures that will include cheaper imports of US products, which they see as a threat to their livelihoods.

But supporters here say an FTA would boost growth, create more jobs and secure a new level of ties with the United States.

Some 4,000 people, including public sector workers and school teachers, marched in downtown Seoul on Saturday urging the government to scrap the talks.

Activists have pledged major rallies during the talks, despite warnings by police that they will not tolerate violent protests.

The militant Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, which has some 8,00,000 members, called a one-day strike Wednesday to protest the FTA.