한·미 FTA 재협상 논의

A Review on Renegotiation of the KORUS FTA

President Donald Trump repeatedly described the Free Trade Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Korea and the Government of the United States of America (hereinafter referred to as “KORUS FTA”) as the “job-killing agreement” and vowed that he would renegotiate it in order to reduce the bilateral trade deficit with the Republic of Korea (hereinafter referred to as “Korea”). Such a vow have prompted the National Assembly’s interest in domestic and international legal issues pertaining to Korea’s amendment of an FTA. The answer to this question would determine the line between relatively insignificant modifications related to the implementation of the KORUS FTA and amendment to the integral part of the KORUS FTA. In the former scenario, the implementation arrangement would neither be subject to the consent of the National Assembly under Article 60, paragraph 1 of the Constitution nor the procedures prescribed by the Act on the Procedures for Concluding Commerce Treaties and the Implementation Thereof (hereinafter referred to as “Act on Commerce Treaties”). In the last scenario, however, the amendment protocol would require both legislative consent to ratification and compliance with the process and procedures of Act on Commerce Treaties.