Korean Government Files Complaint with WTO against the US

As the Korean government seeks to file a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the US imposing anti-dumping tariffs on Korean washing machines, attention to previous dispute results as well as the anticipated result for the case at hand continue to grow.

According to the Ministry of Trade and Industry on August 8, the number of WTO disputes directly involving Korea totaled 27. Fifteen of them were filed by Korea, and the rest were filed against Korea. Korea has a rather favorable history of winning 13 and losing 4, out of the 17 in their panel and appeal phases.

Korea has done well in its disputes against the US as well. Ten out of the 15 ongoing or complete disputes heard final decisions, winning 7 and losing 3.

Among the 10 disputes, 7 were filed by Korea. Except the 2005 Hynix DRAM countervailing duty dispute, Korean won the rest. This is most likely because Korea fully considered the chances of winning prior to making its decision to file each complaint. 

The Ministry of Trade and Industry reported that it is preparing to file a complaint with the WTO against the US government for imposing anti-dumping tariffs and countervailing duties on Korean washing machines. This is in response to the domestic electronic industry’s request for a WTO dispute made to the Korea Electronics Association (KEA) in June. The KEA explained, “We decided to ask the government to file a complaint in order to protect the industry.”

In January 2012, the US government began an investigation into anti-dumping tariffs and countervailing duties on Korean washing machines, then continued to impose them in January of this year. A 9.29% tariff was imposed on Samsung Electronics and 13.02% on LG Electronics, and a 1.85% countervailing duty was imposed on Samsung Electronics. 

The Ministry of Trade and Industry will examine the legal principles along with practical benefits, and once it figures out the chance of winning, it will proceed to file a complaint with the WTO under the name of the Korean government. No exact dates for the final decision have been set or announced, but it is assumed that the government will most likely file the complaint.