Robust debate over key policy issues, with opposition parties exercising the right and duty to support their constituencies and holding the ruling party to account, is a mark of democracy and few concerns are as contentious as trade.
The debate in South Korea over ratification of the long-pending Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (KORUS) has fallen into confusion. Opponents of KORUS have even resorted to physical obstruction of a vote on an agreement — which was initiated, negotiated and agreed by the opposition Democratic Party's own president.
KORUS was negotiated by then South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun and his U.S. counterpart, Mr. George W. Bush, and signed by them in 2007. It then languished in the two legislatures as both governments worked to overcome political opposition.