Seoul Lights Up for the Holiday Season - Korea.net

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DIPLOMACY Korean President Lee Myung-bak (second from right, front row) and other world leaders pose for a group photo during the G20 Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy in Washington on Nov. 15 Lee Warns against Trade Protectionism at G20 Economic Summit President Lee Myung-bak called on world leaders to conclude a long-delayed accord to reduce subsidies and tariffs, warning that trade protectionism will hurt emerging markets. In a keynote speech at the G20 economic summit in Washington, he also suggested currency swap lines between advanced and emerging economies and more funds to developing countries to help alleviate a credit crunch in the global financial markets. “G20 nations must lead the way for the stalled WTO Doha Agreement to be concluded as soon as possible,” he said, referring to the World Trade Organization’s seven-year-old talks. “What we are concerned about is spread of protectionism due to the current difficult economic situation.” He said any spread of protectionism will make the global economy more susceptible to recession and harm weak emerging economies. In this context, Lee called for global leaders to agree on a “Stand-Still” declaration in which they would no longer create new barriers to trade and investment. Lee, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and several other heads of state have called for sweeping reform of the IMF and the establishment of a new global financial system to keep pace with recent changes in the global economy. Lee told the summit forum, “I think this short session should prioritize stabilization of the global financial market and minimizing its adverse impact on economic fundamentals, although today’s session was supposed to deal with reform of the international financial systems to prevent recurrence of the financial crisis.” Lee also urged the world’s leading economies to establish currency swap lines to help provide foreign currency liquidity to emerging economies. Korea currently has a $30 billion currency swap arrangement with the United States, a currency line of $13 billion with Japan and a $4 billion currency deal with China. In a speech at the working lunch, Lee urged global leaders not to repeat the “beggar-thy-neighbor policies” of the Great Depression days in order to bring about a speedy recovery from the ongoing financial crisis. “Going further back in history, we also learn that during the Great Depression of the 1930s, countries decided to increase tariffs and raise trade barriers, which inevitably stifled trade and prolonged worldwide economic stagnation. We must not repeat such beggar-thy-neighbor policies.” Yonhap “Beggar-thy-neighbor policies” refers to international trade regimes that emphasize competitive devaluations and increased protective barriers that one country institutes to gain at the expense of its trading partners. Meeting Korean journalists after the economic conference, Lee categorized the G20 summit as a major power shift from a handful advanced countries to a number of countries representing a variety of economic developments. “This summit should be seen as a historic one that can happen only once in a hundred years as emerging economies were taking part in the process to discuss major global issues, which were monopolized by G7 advanced economies,” Lee said. Lee expected that the summit of the world’s 20 biggest economies will develop into a major forum to discuss energy, global warming and other major global issues as well as the global financial crisis. “From now on, such global issues should be discussed both by developed and emerging economies, and I presume that they will be,” he said. The President noted that Korea will be the chair country of the summit in 2010, after Britain next year. ■ 14 KOREA DECEMBER 2008 DECEMBER 2008 KOREA 15
DIPLOMACY Yonhap “Sets of bilateral and multilateral FTAs will help accelerate the WTO’s bid for global trade and investment liberalization,” Lee said, noting that Korea, Peru and Indonesia conducted a preliminary joint study on the FTAAP earlier this year. Leaders of the countries that belong to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) including Korean President Lee Myung-bak pose for a group photo after attending the APEC summit conference in Lima, Peru, on Nov. 22 Korea Proposes Creation of Pacific Rim Free Trade Area Korean President Lee Myung-bak proposed launching discussions on concluding a multilateral free trade agreement among Pacific Rim countries. He made the proposal in an address at the closing session of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Peru on Nov. 23. He said the 21 APEC member nations need to conduct an extensive study on the potential economic impact of the so-called Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific Region (FTAAP), a proposed free trade area involving almost all APEC member economies, which account for more than half the world economy and almost half of world trade. “Sets of bilateral and multilateral FTAs will help accelerate the WTO’s bid for global trade and investment liberalization,” Lee said, noting that Korea, Peru and Indonesia conducted a preliminary joint study on the FTAAP earlier this year. The Asia Pacific leaders wrapped up their two-day summit in the Peruvian capital of Lima after adopting a 12-point joint declaration calling for “quick and decisive action” to prevent a severe global economic downturn. They also warned against sealing trade borders in the face of financial turmoil and also called for a “prompt, ambitious and balanced conclusion” to the WTO’s stalled Doha round of global trade liberalization talks. Notably, the leaders voiced hope that the ongoing financial crisis could be overcome in one-and-a-half years. Summit Talks among Lee, Bush and Aso On the sidelines of the APEC summit in Lima, President Lee, U.S. President George W. Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso held a three-way summit meeting on Nov. 22 and agreed to resume the six-nation talks on North Korea’s nuclear program early December. President Lee’s spokesman Lee Dong-kwan told reporters that there is a consensus among all participants that the North Korean nuclear problem should be discussed within the framework of the Six-Party Talks. Following the three-way summit, Lee and Bush held bilateral talks for discussions on North Korea, the ongoing financial crisis, the long-delayed legislative approval of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (FTA) and other pending issues. Yonhap Bilateral Summit Meetings Korean President Lee and his Peruvian counterpart, Alan Garcia agreed at a summit in Lima on Nov. 21 to begin negotiations on a two-way free trade agreement in the first half of 2009. In addition, Lee also separately met with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to discuss ways to expand bilateral economic cooperation. President Lee and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet also met just ahead of the APEC summit and agreed to cooperate to form a new multilateral FTA involving about 10 Pacific Rim countries, including New Zealand, Singapore, Brunei, the United States, Australia, India and Peru. Before flying to Peru, the Korean President visited Brazil and held summit talks with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The two leaders agreed to closely cooperate in combating the global economic crisis and widen bilateral economic and commercial exchanges during their summit talks in Brasilia on Nov. 19. In Brasilia, Lee also held unscheduled summit talks with his Indonesian counterpart, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. They discussed ways to deepen bilateral cooperation in energy and resources and agreed to cooperate more closely in overcoming the global financial crisis. ■ President Lee (left) shakes hands with Brazilian President Lula before holding summit talks in Brasilia on Nov. 19 16 KOREA DECEMBER 2008 DECEMBER 2008 KOREA 17
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Page 5 and 6: COVER The Experience of Foreign Stu
Page 7: COVER The Korea Herald U.S. Enginee
Page 11 and 12: GLOBAL KOREA Yonhap Ramsar Changwon
Page 13 and 14: GLOBAL KOREA World Ocean Forum 2008
Page 15 and 16: CULTURE Emography on a closet Calli
Page 17 and 18: CULTURE Royal Protocols of the Jose
Page 19 and 20: CULTURE Hanbok Artist Makes Style S
Page 21 and 22: PEOPLE Moon Young Doo Credia Japane
Page 23 and 24: ART A scene from “A Ballerina Who
Page 25 and 26: TRAVEL Inje Ice Fish Festival Night
Page 27 and 28: EVENTS Daegu Photo Biennale 2008 1
Page 29 and 30: BOOKS Goguryeo: In Search of Its Cu
Page 31 and 32: SPECIAL SERIES they are perceived a
Page 33 and 34: SPECIAL SERIES 880,000 new jobs wil

Seoul Lights Up for the Holiday Season - Korea.net

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