Lee orders halt to CPTPP application this year, pledges W700b to rebuild farm trust

President Lee Jae Myung has ordered the government not to submit South Korea's application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership this year. He also directed that 700 billion won ($523 million) in unfulfilled contributions to a rural cooperation fund — promised when the Korea-China free trade agreement was ratified — be covered directly through government fiscal spending.

Cheong Wa Dae Chief Spokesperson Kang Yu-jung announced the details of Lee's instructions on CPTPP membership in a written briefing Thursday.

Kang said the Cabinet had discussed the CPTPP issue at its meeting Tuesday, noting that officials had raised the point that South Korea's membership would need to be placed on the agenda of the CPTPP ministerial meeting scheduled for November — which would require a public hearing notice to be published in the official gazette by mid-October at the latest.

"In a rapidly shifting global trade order, CPTPP is an option that South Korea, as a country oriented toward global trade, must seriously consider," Kang said. "But trade policy is directly tied to people's lives. It must be pursued on the basis of trust and shared understanding with farmers and fishers, who are facing particular hardship."

Lee accordingly made building consensus with the farming and fishing communities his top priority over pushing for a rushed timeline. "President Lee Jae Myung has instructed that the CPTPP application not be submitted this year," Kang said, adding that Lee urged relevant ministries to set aside fixed deadlines and instead engage in sincere, sustained dialogue with farmers and fishers.

Kang also outlined a concrete fiscal measure to restore trust between the government and rural communities. "Above all, restoring trust between the government and farmers and fishers comes first," she said. "Of the 1 trillion won rural cooperation fund promised at the time of the National Assembly's ratification of the Korea-China FTA in 2015, the shortfall of 700 billion won will be secured through government fiscal resources."

"The people's sovereignty government will communicate fully and review the question of CPTPP membership under the principle that no citizen — including farmers and fishers — will be left behind," Kang added.