Bush, Roh Spar Sharply Over South Korea Trade

President Bush and South Korean President Roh Tae Woo engaged in sharp verbal sparring Tuesday over South Korea’s trade restrictions after Roh arrived at the White House seeking more time for his country to open its markets to American goods.

Roh, in a metaphorical plea for delay, told the President: “If an apple is picked before it’s ripe, it can be a bit tough and sour. When it’s ripe, however, it’s nice and sweet.”

Bush shot back, “At the same time, we don’t want the ripening to take so long that we’re too old to enjoy the food.”

The blunt exchange demonstrated that trade frictions will be a major preoccupation between Washington and Seoul, despite the Bush Administration’s decision last spring to leave South Korea off the short list of countries with the most serious trade restrictions. By contrast, Bush seemed to go out of his way to avoid criticizing Roh and his government for human rights abuses.

At the White House, Roh and his top aides sought to defuse the trade issue by declaring that South Korea intends to open its markets and liberalize its trade practices to the same extent as the leading Western industrial nations by the mid-1990s.

“We still face political difficulties in agriculture,” said South Korean Foreign Minister Choi Ho Joong. He noted that farmers, who make up 20% of the country’s population of 43 million, favor limits on imports.

”. . . We have to consider these domestic difficulties, and the rate (of easing trade barriers) has to be slower in agriculture,” he said.

However, Bush went out of his way to demonstrate U.S. impatience with South Korea’s progress.

“Korean workers and companies have benefited from U.S. open markets. But American workers and companies deserve equal access to South Korean markets,” the President told Roh.

Last May the Bush Administration began formal proceedings against three countries--Japan, Brazil and India--for allegedly unfair trade practices, raising the threat that the United States will retaliate if they do not reduce their trade barriers.

After a marathon series of negotiations, South Korea persuaded the Bush Administration to leave it off the list of the most serious trade violators. However, South Korea was included among eight nations placed on a “priority watch list” for failing to block the counterfeiting of U.S. goods.

According to Assistant Secretary of State Richard H. Solomon, who briefed reporters on the meetings, Bush on Tuesday “indicated (to Roh) his hopes for rapid progress” in limiting South Korean restrictions on exports in telecommunications and for guaranteeing protection of intellectual property rights.

In marked contrast with his emphasis on trade issues, the President apparently said little to Roh about human rights problems in South Korea.

Last month, more than 40 members of Congress sent a letter to Bush, saying that they were “deeply disturbed by the human rights situation in Korea, which appears to be deteriorating.”

Roh’s critics, both in South Korea and in the United States, charge that he has been quick to make use of the country’s National Security Law, which gives authorities broad powers to arrest people on charges of jeopardizing national security. Asia Watch, the New York-based human rights group, estimates that more than 1,000 people are now imprisoned in South Korea for offenses stemming from their political beliefs.

Solomon told reporters that there was only “brief mention” of the subject of human rights in the meetings that Bush and Roh had while their top aides were present. Solomon said the subject may have been discussed during a private 40-minute session between the two leaders. But he said: “I can’t give you a great deal of detail.”

Earlier this month, Karl S. Richardson, the State Department’s director of Korean affairs, said at a seminar here that human rights problems in South Korea “are off the front burner. Trade issues, by contrast, are more important (than in the past).”

During their White House meeting, Bush reaffirmed that the United States will stand by its security commitments to South Korea, where 43,000 American soldiers are stationed.