The Tribune`s Dec. 16 article ”Koreans buy pitch against U.S. goods”
was a great disappointment because it tended to fan misunderstanding of sensitive issues that are vital to relations between our two countries. While Korea-U.S. working-level trade negotiations were ending generally amicably, with most differences settled, your article added fuel to the fire without shedding any light on the subject.
There are two errors that well illustrate this point. The National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, the author of the comic book that has reportedly caused such irritation, is no longer a quasi-government agency. In 1988, the law was revised to eliminate the government`s involvement.
The federation represents over 1,500 regional agricultural cooperatives, and its officers are elected. The Korean government was not aware of the comic book until after it was distributed, and it has written the federation expressing regret for its inaccuracies and for the mistrust it has generated with our trading partners.
The second error is the supposed statement issued by the Tobacco and Ginseng Corp. advising Korean consumers that only imported American cigarettes cause cancer, not Korean cigarettes. It is an insult to the intelligence of Koreans. If your correspondent had bothered to check a package of Korean cigarettes, he would have seen the long-standing warning that they can cause lung cancer and are especially harmful to pregnant women and young people.
Liberalization continues to be the backbone of Korea`s economic policy, and Korea already has the most open market of any developing country, one equal to that of some developed countries. The fact is that imports have been rising strongly, regardless of our concern about over-consumption. The disagreement between Korea and the U.S. is not on principle but on the timing of increased opening.
Korea will have the reappearance of a trade account deficit this year for the first time since 1985, a trend likely to continue for years. Especially, Korea`s trade surplus with the U.S. has continuously dwindled from $8.7 billion in 1988 to $4.7 billion last year and again narrowed to approximately $2 billion at the end of October 1990. This eloquently attests to the fact that Korea`s efforts to correct trade imbalance has paid off handsomely in the United States` favor.
In the first nine months of 1990, our import of U.S. refrigerators increased 60.4 percent over the corresponding period of last year and our import of U.S. washing machines increased 476.1 percent. Again, this was despite the frugality campaign. In the area of agricultural products, too, Korea is the second largest consumer of American agricultural products, despite our relatively small population.
In consideration of our traditionally close and intimate relations, I hope we will bend backward to understand each other`s position clearly to create an environment conducive to amicable solutions for mutual benefit, instead of fanning the flames of discontent.
