Brussels, 28/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - The annual EU-South Korea summit on 28 March in Seoul helped to develop an initial assessment of how implementation of their free trade zone agreement (which entered into force in July last year) is going. It also helped thrash out new measures for enhancing their strategic partnership and providing a platform for stepping up the pressure on neighbouring North Korea, so that it refrains from launching a very controversial missile.
Political dialogue. At a meeting the day after the second Nuclear Security Summit, the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, and his counterpart José Manuel Barroso at the Commission, together with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak expressed their satisfaction with regard to the “positive developments” in the strategic partnership between the EU and South Korea, “founded on a bedrock of shared values and on the landmark Framework Agreement and Free-Trade Agreement which were signed in 2010”. The leaders expressed their wish to further strengthen Korea-EU cooperation on bilateral, global and regional issues. In addition, they noted the upcoming 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations in 2013. High level political dialogue will be held on an annual basis and from this year bilateral consultations will be held to strengthen cooperation in the areas of human rights.
Expansion in trade. The leaders welcomed the “expansion” of bilateral trade after the provisional application of the Korea-EU free trade agreement on 1 July 2011. Implementation of the agreement is still too recent at this stage to assess its real impact but following a sharp decline in 2009, trade between the EU and South Korea picked up again in 2010 and growth continued in 2011. Exports increased from €22 billion, to €28bn then €32bn between 2009 and 2011, whilst EU imports increased from €32bn to €39bn between 2009 and 2010, before falling to €36bn in 2011, according to figures provided by Eurostat. The EU therefore reduced its trade deficit from €11 billion to €4 billion between 2010 and 2011. South Korea was counting on slightly more than 2% from the external trade in goods from the EU in 2011, which makes it its 10th largest trading partner. Figures on the trade in services and investment date back to 2010, when the EU registered a surplus of €3 billion in its balance on services. Direct investment from abroad from the EU in South Korea grew from €0.9 billion to €2.8 billion between 2009 and 2010 and from South Korea to European Union from €1.6 billion to €3.8 billion.
Pressure on Pyongyang. On questions of regional security, European and South Korean leaders expressed their “grave concern” over North Korea's announcement on 16 March that it plans to carry out a “satellite” launch in mid April. They emphasised that the launch would be a clear violation of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and contrary to its recent commitments, such as the agreement reached last February with the US, setting out a moratorium on nuclear missiles and activities. Despite North Korea's claims that the launch is for peaceful purposes - to commemorate the centenary of the founder of North Korea, Kim Il-Sung - it is seen as a serious provocation by the US, South Korea and Japan, which consider the launch of the North Korean satellite as a way of covering up long-range ballistic missile tests, in violation of Resolution 1874 of the UN Security Council, which since 2009 has banned North Korea from launching any ballistic missiles. On Wednesday, Van Rompuy, Barroso and Lee urged North Korea to “comply with its international obligations, in particular by abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programme”. The leaders also expressed their concern over the gravity of the North Korean human rights and humanitarian situation. “I need to highlight the gravity of North Korea's human rights situation and the problem of hunger and malnutrition... this should be the first priority for North Korea, not missile and nuclear weapons”, explained Van Rompuy. “I urge the North Korean authorities to respect the basic principles of fundamental rights. It is simply incredible what is going on in North Korea when it comes to the lack of respect of human dignity”, added Barroso. (EH/transl.fl)