1. BILATERAL/MULTILATERAL ISSUES

Summary: Assemblyman Ki-Joon Yoo, GNP Secretary for the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affair, Trade and Unification argued that the KORUS FTA should be introduced during the special session of the National Assembly in August and if possible it should also be voted on.  He made these claims during an interview with a radio program.

Joon Pyo Hong, President of GNP tells U.S. Ambassador that “KORUS FTA is being delayed because of the anti-American assemblymen within the opposition party.” [Korean: BYK]

http://www.viewsnnews.com/article/view.jsp?seq=77794

Summary: Assemblyman Hong blamed the Democratic Party as anti-Americanism by stating that he regretted that the ratification of the KORUS FTA was being delayed because of some of the anti-Americanism within the opposition party,  He made such comments when he met with the U.S. Ambassador at the National Assembly.  He strongly stated that the GNP was planning to pass the KORUS FTA bill during the special session in August. 

2. LIVESTOCK ISSUES

Farmers threaten to halt milk sales [English, CSY]

[NEWS IN FOCUS] If no agreement is reached tonight, dairy companies won’t get any milk

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2939949

Summary: Korea seems to be headed for a milk crisis. Farmers, represented by the Korea Dairy and Beef Farmers Association, and dairy manufacturers, represented by the Korea Dairy Industries Association, failed for the 49th consecutive day yesterday to hammer out an agreement on the supply price of milk. The deadline was extended from last Friday to midnight tonight. If the two sides fail to come to terms on a mutually beneficial price, farmers threatened to halt the supply of milk to dairy manufacturers.  It wouldn’t take long for consumers to notice the absence of milk products from store shelves.   Since the two sides first sat down for talks on June 21, farmers haven’t budged from their demand that dairy manufacturers pony up 877 won ($0.81) per liter. But the manufacturers have been steadfast that they’re only willing to go as high as 785 won per liter from the current 704 won per liter.

MIFAFF Submits Canadian Beef Protocol for Deliberation by the National Assembly [Korean: BYK]

http://www.nongmin.com/article/ar_detail.htm?ar_id=191246&subMenu=articletotal

Summary: The National Assembly announced that it has sent the Canadian Beef Import Protocol to the Standing Committee on Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries Affairs for deliberation.  MIFAFF had originally submitted the protocol to the National Assembly on July 22.  As there are no set methods for how the National Assembly would conduct the deliberation or its deliberation period, the Chairman of the Standing committee will have to discuss this with the committee members.  As there is no agreement on how the National Assembly would handle this deliberation, it still remains to be seen if the National Assembly would merely receive explanation about the protocol and verify the content of the protocol or whether it would vote and make some kind of decision.  One official from the National Assembly stated that “The deliberation is not something where we finalize the protocol but if there is some opposition, it may mean that the committee could express the need for revisions.”   In other words, this means that the National Assembly considers the ‘deliberation” as something between a report and a vote and therefore the government would be subject to the political responsibility for what comes out of the deliberation but the result of the deliberation would not have any legal binding.  Once the protocol undergoes the deliberation, the Minister of MIFAFF would publish the final protocol.  Afterwards, MIFAFF would conduct an onsite audit of the export plants and provide approval for these plants and undergo discussions about the export health certificates before actual exports can take place.

Thailand allows imports of Korean pork offal [Korean: BYK]

http://korea.kr/newsWeb/pages/brief/partNews2/view.do?dataId=155775645&call_from=extlink&call_from=extlink

Summary: Thailand informed Korea that it was opening up the doors for Korean pork offal imports as of August 1, 2011.  Thailand had banned pork offal imports from Korea after the FMD outbreak.  However, after conducting an onsite audit from June 6-12, 2011, it approved pork offal imports from 1 slaughter plant and 5 processing plants.  This is the first export of pork products since the FMD outbreak in late November, 2010.  Total pork offal exports to Thailand in 2009 were $3.25 million (4,204 MT).

3. MARKETING ISSUES

Lotte Mart Plans to Move Its Headquarter to China [Korean, OSY]

http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/economy/2011/08/08/0301000000AKR20110808040600003.HTML

Summary: B.Y. Noh, president of Lotte Mart said in a press interview on August 8 that this third largest hypermarket company in Korea is planning to move its headquarter office to China as the company is expected to do bigger business in China than in S. Korea in the coming years.  Currently Lotte Mart operates a total of 199 stores around the world, 107 of which are in China.  President Noh added that the market for hypermarket business is expected to reach a saturation point in a few years.   However, Lotte Mart’s stores in foreign countries are reportedly making poor performance, as indicated by the fact that the per store sales revenue of the foreign stores is about half of the stores in Korea.  Market analysts expect that acquisition of established local retail chains in foreign markets will remain the major expansion strategy for Lotte Mart.

Retail Stores in Trouble Supplying Fresh Produce for Chuseok Gift Sets [Korean, OSY]

http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/economy/2011/08/08/0318000000AKR20110808183800003.HTML?audio=Y

Summary: While leading retail store chains are about to releasing product brochures of gift sets for the coming Chuseok (Korean Thanks Giving Day) season in a couple of weeks, most of the companies are reportedly in trouble finalizing the retail price of the fresh produce (fruits) gift sets.  Due to extended monsoon season this summer, supply/harvest of local fresh fruits including apples and pears is likely to be very tight this year.  It is highly likely that price of fresh produce this year will remain highly volatile.

4. OTHER MISCELLANEOUS ISSUES

Cabbage prices fuel kimchi imports [English, CSY]

http://www.koreaherald.com/business/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20110808000649

Summary: As prices of locally-produced napa cabbages soared, kimchi exports decreased by more than 10 percent this year, while imports increased by nearly 40 percent, government data found Monday.  This year’s outbound shipment of kimchi amounted to 15,614 tons as of July, a 10.7 percent decline compared to the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Korea Customs Service.   However, kimchi imports saw a huge 38.6 percent increase to 134,162 tons from 96,826 tons during the same period in 2010, the data said.  Kimchi’s trade balance, which posted a surplus of $5.62 million last July, also swung back to a deficit of $13.05 million as of July this year.