President-elect Barak Obama will support the passage of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (FTA) in the long run to maintain the strategic relationship between the two countries, according to a noted U.S. expert.
He added that although Korea may face rising pressure from the Obama administration to remove barriers regarding the import of U.S. products, such pressure will not weaken the alliance.
``I do not expect any fundamental change in the Korea-U.S. relationship under the Obama administration,'' Jeffrey Jones, an international lawyer at Kim & Chang, one of the largest law firms in Korea, told The Korea Times.
Um, no, Obama's not supporting passage, they're just asking some guy's opinion. A guy whose primary qualification to speak on the US is that he's from the States. Noted expert? While he's made a moderately big name for himself in Korea, and has since actually become a naturalized Korean citizen, it's certainly a stretch to call him an expert and to imply he has any bearing or influence over there. The article's no more true than the forthcoming piece "Brian Deutsch to receive glorious handjob from Keira Knightley," which I have based entirely on my diary entries, and whose relationship to the truth is that Keira Knightley has a hand and I have a penis.
Actually, since he's no longer a US citizen I feel obliged to write that foreigners shouldn't involve themselves in sensitive domestic issues. Why doesn't he write about some of the US's noted tourist attractions? I feel like he's hurting the United States' reputation with these distortions, and he needs to understand American culture. We have to fix the mindset of white people like that.
There is a lot of new interest in the FTA since Obama's election, since given the President-elect's remarks he may look to rework it more to America's favor, or that the Congress may kill it. A few days ago the Korean side emphasized that they will not permit renegotiation of the FTA. I mean, they won't permit the US to renegotiate; Korea already did. A choice quotation:
Seoul's top trade negotiator Lee Hye-min made it clear Wednesday that it would be difficult for Seoul and Washington to renegotiate the deal, saying it ``goes against international customs.'' Trying to renegotiate the text when it has been signed and awaiting ratification by the National Assembly and the Congress is inappropriate, he added.
LOL. Man, a local English-language journalist who actually, like, paid attention to stuff would never run out of material around here. But that's a pretty big caveat based on what I've seen. Not when there's satire to be written, or bars to be covered! We really want to hear your uninformed opinion of Obama in the national Korean newspaper!
No comments:
Post a Comment