Hong Nam-ki (second from right), minister of economy and finance, speaks in a meeting with officials in Seoul on Sep. 20, 2019. [Photo provided by the Ministry of Economy and Finance]

The South Korean government for the first time publicly mentioned it may have to reexamine its “developing” categorization under the World Trade Organization (WTO) that enables protections despite the economy being 12th largest in the world.

“It’s time for us to have a fundamental discussion on our status quo if many governments have been issues over it,” said Hong Nam-ki, the finance minister and deputy prime minister, in an economic ministers meeting on Friday.

But the decision should place national interests first, he added.

“The benefits being given as a developing country are very important to the nation’s agricultural industry so we need to take a very careful approach,” he said.

His comment comes after U.S. President Donald Trump denounced the WTO on July 26 that the international body keeps too many countries of a certain level of economic development and scale as developing nations and allow them special treatments as to hurt the global fair trading framework. He said unless the WTO makes any real progress within 90 days, the U.S. would unilaterally stop treating the countries as developing nations.

Hong said the government will take into account national interests, economic status and possible economic impact when discussing whether to maintain the status. It will also have enough talks with interested parties including the agricultural industry, he added.

“The issue is not about abandoning the benefits as a developing nation, but about whether to keep receiving the benefits in the future negotiations,” he said. Currently, the issue doesn’t have any impact on existing rules on import tariffs on agricultural products and state subsidies for local industry, and it also doesn’t affect the current talks on rice tariffs with other nations that are almost completed, he added.

When asked whether the government is considering giving up the status as a developing nation, Hong said it isn’t, and it will discuss the issue further at a cabinet meeting next month.

Sohn Il-seon and Choi Mira

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]