Appealing to WTO

The South Korean government has decided to bring the China’s retaliatory measures over the deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system in South Korea in the World Trade Organization (WTO) to be held next month.
The South Korean government has decided to bring the China’s retaliatory measures over the deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system in South Korea in the World Trade Organization (WTO) to be held next month.

 

The South Korean government has decided to strongly urge the Chinese government to drop its retaliatory measures over the deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system in South Korea through all the channels including the Council for Trade in Services of World Trade Organization (WTO) to be held next month.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) held “the 13th Korea-China Commerce Check Task Force Meeting” chaired by Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Kang Sung-chun in Seoul on July 13. The meeting was participated in by related government departments, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of SMEs and Startups and Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and related agencies, including Korea International Trade Association and Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA).

At the meeting, officials discussed the current trend of commerce to China after the additional deployment of the THAAD system, countermeasures against China’s retaliation and government-wide damage support programs for companies based in China or exporting to China and additional support plans.

The government has decided to continuously persuade China to lift economic retaliatory measures in the distribution and tourism sector first through various channels including numerous high-level talks, Korea-China FTA implementation body and WTO.

In particular, the MOTIE is planning to send a protest letter to the Chinese government again and urge to lift its retaliatory measures in the distribution and tourism sectors as soon as possible at the WTO Council of Trade in Services meeting scheduled to take place in October. Earlier, the South Korean government officially brought up the problem at the WTO trade council meeting in March and June.

It also considers taking legal action and launching a complaint at the WTO against the measures that can be in violation of international law.

The government will also carry out plans to support companies that are based in China or export to China and come up with additional support measures. Notably, it will expand and reorganize the existing Special China Trade Damage Support Team to “Special Task Force to Support for Solving Trade Difficulties with China,” comprehensively manage businesses’ difficulties reported to various support agencies and provide customized one-stop support services.

Based on the KOTRA’s global partnering project, the government will help small and mid-size car component producers supply their products to Chinese automakers and global autoamkers in North America and India.

Lastly, the government plans to strengthen the economic cooperation with China for sustainable development of the Korea-China relations, marking 25 years of diplomatic ties. It will aggressively push ahead with joint projects specified in the Korea-China FTA agreement and discuss the ways to cooperate in the infrastructure development linked with China’s One Belt, One Road policy.

 

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