VZCZCXRO9433
PP RUEHCHI RUEHFK RUEHHM RUEHKSO RUEHPB
DE RUEHUL #0450/01 0390835
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 080835Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY SEOUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5899
INFO RUEHZU/ASIAN PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SEOUL 000450 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/EP AND EAP/K 
PASS USTR FOR CUTLER AND YANG 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/08/2016 
TAGS: ECON PREL APECO KS
SUBJECT: KOREAN OBJECTIVES FOR APEC 2006 
 
REF: A. STATE 14967 
 
     ¶B. SEOUL 234 
 
Classified By: EconMinCouns Kurt Tong, Reason 1.4 (b,d). 
 
Summary 
------- 
¶1. (C) A key Korean focus for APEC 2006 will be obtaining 
support for its initiative to begin a new APEC research 
project on overcoming socio-economic disparities within 
APEC-members' respective domestic economies.  This initiative 
is based on President Roh's own request (first included as an 
agenda item during the 2005 Busan APEC Leaders Meeting), and 
Seoul will exert commensurate effort in pushing for its 
adoption.  Korea is happy to see that the initial draft 
agendas coming out of Vietnam includes measures for 
implementing the Busan Roadmap.  Of these, Korea is 
especially interested in the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) 
support, model Free Trade Agreement/Regional Trade Agreement 
(FTA/RTA) measures, anti-corruption efforts, and cultural 
issues.  Seoul is curious to know Washington's plans 
regarding the U.S./Korea/Japan co-sponsored IPR initiative, 
and whether Washington is considering additional initiatives 
related to it.  Korea forecasts that it will be necessary to 
convene a separate APEC foreign ministers' event, in some 
guise, again this year.  End summary. 
 
Initiative on Socio-Economic Disparities 
---------------------------------------- 
¶2. (U) Econoff discussed Korea's APEC 2006 objectives on 
February 7 with Hyo-eun "Jenny" Kim, Senior Deputy Director 
of the Regional Cooperation Division of the Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT). 
 
¶3. (SBU) Kim said that Korea's primary focus for the moment 
is on obtaining support for an initiative to begin an APEC 
research project to examine the causes of, and possible 
policy responses to, socio-economic disparities in APEC 
economies.  Korea's thoughts are described in detail in a 
non-paper sent on January 20 to EAP/EP and 10 other APEC 
economies including Japan and China. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Kim emphasized that Korea is aware that this could 
be a sensitive topic for some member economies, because it 
affects perceptions of globalization, trade, and investment. 
She reaffirmed that President Roh is a strong supporter of 
globalization and believes that it is the best path to 
economic growth.  However, in order to obtain sustainable 
long-term growth, it would be necessary to come to grips with 
socio-economic disparities that can be one result of such 
globalization.  Kim also stressed that Korea intends for the 
research project to hew strictly to the mandate for such a 
study contained in the 2005 Leaders Declaration. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Kim noted that this topic was a personal priority of 
President Roh himself, and the initiative goes back to Roh's 
belief that APEC should take up the issue of socio-economic 
disparities.  In fact, President Roh focused his New Year's 
Address (Ref B) on just this issue.  Korea is hoping to 
obtain consensus on conducting such a study before SOM I, so 
that at that meeting Senior Officials could give a mandate to 
the Economic Committee to carry out the research.  In turn, 
the Economic Committee would establish a project team to 
coordinate activities among scholars in the various APEC 
members and with other APEC bodies.  Korea would lead the 
project team, and coordinate it through the Korean Institute 
of International Economic Policy (KIEP), whose President is 
also the Chair of the Economic Committee.  KIEP is a 
state-run think tank affiliated with MOFAT. 
 
¶6. (SBU) The research would look for case studies from 
different APEC members of what types of socio-economic 
disparities have arisen in the respective economy and what 
policies were used to deal with them, in a search for best 
practices.  In addition to the study, Korea plans to host an 
international APEC symposium on the subject in Seoul in July. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Kim said that Korea has received positive responses 
from China and Japan, but has not heard back from the other 
nine economies to which it sent its proposal, including the 
United States.  Kim expressed hope that the United States 
could respond to the initiative soon. 
 
Implementing the Busan Roadmap 
------------------------------ 
¶8. (SBU) Turning to other APEC 2006 priorities, Kim expressed 
satisfaction with the initial thoughts coming out of Hanoi, 
in particular with Vietnam's inclusion of implementing the 
Busan Roadmap.  Korea believes that focus should be put on 
supporting the DDA negotiations, developing model FTA/RTA's, 
 
SEOUL 00000450  002 OF 002 
 
 
and anti-corruption efforts.  Seoul also thinks that cultural 
issues should continue to be a topic, and would support 
additional APEC cultural exchanges and cultural events. 
 
¶9. On other agenda items of concern to the United States, 
Korea shares our goal of emphasizing work on Avian and Human 
Influenza Pandemic mitigation, as well as the U.S. human 
security initiatives.  She noted, however, that Korea and the 
United States would continue to have differences over the 
technology choice initiative, which the two sides would "have 
to work through." 
 
Question on IPR Initiative 
-------------------------- 
¶10. (SBU) Kim indicated that Seoul is curious about U.S. 
thoughts on what more to do with the U.S./Korea/Japan 
co-sponsored IPR initiative.  She wondered whether the United 
States was thinking of doing something more based on last 
year's achievement, or whether the United States is 
considering additional initiatives, such as implementing 
guidelines. 
 
Dealing with China-Chinese Taipei Issues 
---------------------------------------- 
¶11. (C) Korea continues to share U.S. concerns over ensuring 
the complete and equal participation of Chinese Taipei in 
APEC.  However, based on its own dealings with China last 
year as APEC host, Seoul has come to the conclusion that 
holding a separate foreign ministers' event, in some guise, 
has become a de facto APEC tradition, and does not believe 
there is another realistic option for accommodating both 
members' positions. 
 
Comment 
------- 
¶12. (SBU) The study that Korea proposes on socio-economic 
disparities could turn out to be fairly innocuous, 
particularly since MOFAT appears sincere in emphasizing the 
positive impact of globalization and trade on economic 
growth, given appropriate policy responses (i.e. good 
governance) by individual economies.  Furthermore, we can 
attest to the veracity of the claim that this topic is of 
personal interest to President Roh, meaning that Korea would 
find it hard to accept "no" for an answer.  We suggest 
steering discussion toward pro-growth strategies like 
education reform and technology development to "bridge the 
divide." 
 
¶13. (SBU) On another subject, we continue to believe that 
raising technology choice in the APEC context will eventually 
help us in bilateral terms, despite current Korean 
opposition.  Since technology choice stands to be a firm U.S. 
demand in upcoming U.S.-ROK FTA negotiations, we are hopeful 
that the ROKG will realize that the APEC process on 
technology choice provides a convenient multilateral fig leaf 
for the reforms we will be asking for in the FTA. 
VERSHBOW