Economy on the Back Burner
U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit South Korea on November 7. The local business community, however, is feeling helpless with the South Korean government taking no action to make use of his visit with regard to KORUS FTA revision, which is currently the hottest issue in the bilateral relations between Seoul and Washington.
“We looked forward to a meeting with the U.S. President, but the government did not organize any in the end,” said a high-ranking corporate executive, adding, “This shows economy is on the back burner in the incumbent government.”
Some pointed out that his upcoming visit to South Korea is too short for such a meeting to be held. “He is scheduled to stay for only 25 hours this time and Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross is not coming with him this time,” one of them mentioned, continuing, “This is somewhat disappointing even though the North Korean nuclear threat is the most important issue now.”
“If a meeting had been organized, it would have been in the form of AMCHAM or another economic organization inviting President Donald Trump,” another high-ranking executive explained. He continued to say, “It seems that things are not favorable for us for now with a mid-term election scheduled for November 2018 in the United States and the status of South Korean economic organizations having dropped due to the corruption scandal during the previous government.”