From Deseret News archives:
Panel to discuss Korea-Utah ties
Westminster to host dialogue on possible free-trade pact
Only geographically. Economically and historically, the two have stronger ties that you might realize.
Those ties, and their future, will be explored Thursday at a panel discussion at Westminster College.
Utah exported about $126 million to South Korea during 2007, with chemical manufacturing, transportation, foods, computers, paper products, primary metal manufacturing and furniture among the top exports. While down slightly from the 2006 figure, it's nearly double the export levels of 2003.
Adopting a free-trade agreement — currently bogged down in Congress — could boost that number even higher, said Ambassador Charles L. "Jack" Pritchard, president of the Korea Economic Institute in Washington, D.C., and leader of the panel.
"One of the things about the free-trade agreement is that it's not going to be passed this year, but maybe in the latter part of 2009," he said. "But it looks as though it will be an add of value of some $10 billion or $12 billion to the United States in trade with Korea. How much of that translates to Utah's slice of the pie, I don't know, but inevitably, there are sectors within all the states' economies that will benefit in some way, should that free-trade agreement get passed."
Holding up the agreement's approval are concerns from Democrats about labor conditions in Korea, he said.
"We have a number of people — prominent people, and Barack Obama is one — that say that on some trade and labor issues, they're not quite fair. There's a historical concern that non-tariff barriers that Korea has imposed in the past would somehow creep up. That's pretty hard to get your hands around. There's nothing in the document that says this could turn out to be a barrier."
Pritchard, however, believes the reverse is true — that the agreement, as negotiated, "eliminates a great deal of those barriers." Concerns of Congressional Democrats likely will "slow this up from a political point of view, not an economics point of view," he said.
"The Future of Korea" presentation is free and open to the public. It will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Vieve Gore Concert Hall. It is part of the Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy's Ambassador John Price and Marcia Price World Affairs Lecture Series, in partnership with Westminster College's American Express Weldon J. Taylor Executive Lecture Series. Details are at www.utahdiplomacy.org.
In addition to Pritchard, the panel will feature Sherri Holliday Sklar, Republic of Korea unit chief at the U.S. Department of State, and Yoon Chang-Hyun, first secretary of the Economic Section for the Republic of Korea Embassy. They will discuss business relations and trade with the U.S. and political and security matters.
E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com
