Post by Admin on Oct 25, 2019 5:55:58 GMT
The announcement came as U.S. President Donald Trump has been pushing to make sure that self-declared developing countries do not take advantage of special and differential treatment that come with the status.
Trump had warned that the U.S. would no longer treat any WTO member that Washington says is not a developing country as one if no substantial progress were made in overhauling the rules of the Geneva-based trade body by mid-October.
The U.S. has proposed that the WTO strip countries of developing country status if they meet certain criteria -- being members of the Group of 20 advanced economies, being members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, being high-income countries as classified by the World Bank and taking up at least 0.5 percent of total global trade.
South Korea meets all four of the criteria, which could undermine its efforts to maintain its status.
South Korea has kept its developing country status since 1995 to protect its sensitive agriculture industry, especially rice.
"We will make every effort to protect sensitive areas in the agriculture sector, including rice, in future WTO negotiations on agriculture," Hong said.
The issue of the developing country privileges is about future multilateral negotiations, meaning that South Korea's agricultural subsidies and its agricultural tariffs won't be affected even if Seoul decides to forgo the status.
"We have enough time and resources to brace for the impact that could be caused by future negotiations," Hong said, adding it may take a long time before WTO member states resume negotiations and strike a deal.
However, local farmers have voiced their opposition to a possible move to drop the status.
"We cannot accept the government's decision and we will hold rallies to pressure the government into retracting the decision," said Park Haeng-deok, chairman of the Korean Peasants League, which speaks for about 300,000 farmers across the country.
Trump had warned that the U.S. would no longer treat any WTO member that Washington says is not a developing country as one if no substantial progress were made in overhauling the rules of the Geneva-based trade body by mid-October.
The U.S. has proposed that the WTO strip countries of developing country status if they meet certain criteria -- being members of the Group of 20 advanced economies, being members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, being high-income countries as classified by the World Bank and taking up at least 0.5 percent of total global trade.
South Korea meets all four of the criteria, which could undermine its efforts to maintain its status.
South Korea has kept its developing country status since 1995 to protect its sensitive agriculture industry, especially rice.
"We will make every effort to protect sensitive areas in the agriculture sector, including rice, in future WTO negotiations on agriculture," Hong said.
The issue of the developing country privileges is about future multilateral negotiations, meaning that South Korea's agricultural subsidies and its agricultural tariffs won't be affected even if Seoul decides to forgo the status.
"We have enough time and resources to brace for the impact that could be caused by future negotiations," Hong said, adding it may take a long time before WTO member states resume negotiations and strike a deal.
However, local farmers have voiced their opposition to a possible move to drop the status.
"We cannot accept the government's decision and we will hold rallies to pressure the government into retracting the decision," said Park Haeng-deok, chairman of the Korean Peasants League, which speaks for about 300,000 farmers across the country.