Special Treatment of Developing Countries in the Services Trade

Yoon, Sang Chul,Mah, Jai S. Institute for International Trade and Cooperation 2007 Asian International Studies Review Vol.8 No.1

Developing countries have a comparative disadvantage in the services area in general. Therefore, the global trading system has granted developing countries many types of special and differential treatments in the services trade. The current paper examines how they can be modified. Among other points, it is necessary for developing countries to pay attention to negotiations on the movement of natural persons. The emergency safeguard measures would contribute to relieving the difficulties of the services-importing developing countries. No detail on subsidies is stipulated in the current GATS. In addition, although the GATT stipulates "waiver" whereby the concerned countries may waive the obligations under the GATT/WTO, the GATS does not include such a waiver provision.

The Korean Accountancy Market and Global Competition

Jung, Nu Ri,Woo, Won Seok Institute for International Trade and Cooperation 2006 Asian International Studies Review Vol.7 No.2

Among the professions, accountancy services play an especially critical role in the market economy today; thus there have been many World Trade organization (WTO) attempts, beyond the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), to liberalize the market for accountancy services. In response to this international demand, the Korean government announced the liberalization of its accounting market from 2007 and its full opening by 2011. This paper begins with an overview of the Korean accountancy market, including a SWOT analysis focused on the post-financial-crisis era. Next, it shows how the WTO pacts-especially the GATS and the Disciplines on Domestic Regulation in the Accountancy Sector (Disciplines)- and 'Revised Conditional Offer on the Schedule of Specific Commitments' for WTO services negotiations submitted by Korea on May 31, 2005 are used to eliminate these domestic regulatory barriers to international trade in accountancy services. Finally, the paper anticipates both the positive and the negative implications of accountancy market liberalization in Korea following from the removal of existing obstacles to cross-border trade. AS the first sector to be disciplined under the GATS, the liberalized accountancy sector is likely to become the model for other professional services such as law, health, engineering and architecture. Hence this study can have significant implications that extend beyond the field of accounting

The Expectation and Reality Gap in South Korea’s Relations with China

HWEE-RHAK PARK Institute for International Trade and Cooperation, 2017 Asian International Studies Review Vol.18 No.1

This paper identifies a gap between expectation and reality in South Korea-China relations. It applies the theory of “Autonomy-Security Trade-off” and analyzes incidents such as North Korea’s sinking of the Cheonan, its bombardment of the Yeonpyeong Island, and the deployment of the U.S. THAAD system in South Korea. As a result, this paper concludes that South Korea expected more from China than it merited. Contrary to South Korean expectations, China was not ready to help South Korea on security issues. The Strategic Cooperative Partnership, which was signed in 2008 between the two countries, appeared to be just a friendly gesture, although South Korea expected cooperation in security sector. South Korea should recognize that its partnership with China cannot replace its alliance with the U.S. It should settle for economic, social, and cultural cooperation with China and maintain security cooperation with the U.S. If South Korea reminds China of this limitation in its mutual relationship, China could also settle for its cooperation with South Korea on sectors other than security. China would therefore not intervene into South Korean security decisions as we witnessed over the deployment of the U.S. THAAD system.

Leadership and Global Governance in the Early Twenty - first Century

Murphy, Craig N . Institute for International Trade and Cooperation 1997 Asian International Studies Review Vol.1 No.1

“Global governance" is not new. System of international regimes regulating and encouraging industrial development across borders have been characteristic of the las three of the four industrial eras. The outlines of a new industrial era are already clear, but many of the institutions of global governance necessary for that era have no been formed. This is especially true relative to policy questions about labor, the less industrialized regions, and the environment. History suggests that effective new international agreements can be made with the right combination of intellectual leadership with two types of political leadership: sponsorship of intergovernmental conferences and the benefactorship of experimental international institutions. Relative to environmental issues, intellectual leadership can come from scientists and scholars of public policy. Sponsorship may come from states with an interest in being considered "first movers" in environmental affairs. Potential benefactors of costly experimental international environmental agreements are harder to find. Governments of first-mover states may be able to devise means for handling the redistributive issues associated with international pollution. Simultaneously, they and other governments will have to find new means of managing other problems associated with the expansion of the industrial system: conflicts between capital and labor, between newer and older industries, between more and less industrialized regions of the world, and among leading industrial states.

Political Culture , Democracy and the Economic Crisis in Korea

Mo, Jong Ryn Institute for International Trade and Cooperation 1998 Asian International Studies Review Vol.2 No.1

The current economic crisis reflects the failure of the political system as much as the economic system. It is the job of the former to correct the problems of the latter. But the Korean political system failed to carry out long overdue reforms and contain the unfolding financial crisis. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the direction of political reform in Korea in view of the failures of the political system to address the economic problems before the crisis. Among the many political problems confronting Korea, I have highlighted the role of political culture. Emphasis on culture does not mean that institutional reforms are unimportant. By all means, Korea should continue institutional reforms. But institutional reforms by themselves are insufficient to bring about the desired change in government performance. There is now a significant gap between cultural values and practices, and the formal rules of political institutions. Unless this gap is reduced, Korea will continue to suffer from political gridlock and stalemate, which was one of the leading causes for the economic crisis

International Monetary Cooperation and Democratic Institutions : The Importance of Executive-Legislative Relations in, Germany and France, 1919-1929

Cho, Chan Soo Institute for International Trade and Cooperation 2006 Asian International Studies Review Vol.7 No.2

This article examines how changes in formal political institutions can affect the extent to which a nationally defined monetary policy is committed to an international monetary order by comparing the German and French cases during the period of 1919-1929. There is no dearth of studies that employ domestic political institutional variables to explain policy outcomes regarding international economic relations. And at the same time, for the past decade, a host of "second image reversed" works have improved our understanding of domestic-international interaction. While many scholars of international political economy have written about domestic sources of trade policy, increasing numbers of authors have devoted substantial attention to the explanatory power of domestic variables in monetary issues. Particularly, when accounting for variations on democratic commitment to international monetary cooperation, the importance of executive-legislative relations deserves special attention. Germany and France during the 1920s provide us with an interesting pair of comparison in that their parliamentary democracies had subtle differences in executive-legislative relations.

Open Regionalism

Bergsten, C . Fred Institute for International Trade and Cooperation, 1997 Asian International Studies Review Vol.1 No.1

"Open regionalism" represents an effort to resolve one of the central problems of contemporary trade policy: how to achieve compatibility between the explosion of regional trading arrangement around the world and the global trading system as embodied in the Wold Trade organization. The concept seeks to assure that regional agreements will in practice be building blocks for further global liberalization rather than stumbling blocks that deter such progress. This article addresses "open regionalism" in the context of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation(APEC). which evolved as an effort to reconcile potential conflicts between "globalism vs. regionalism." Presenting five alternative definitions of the concept-open membership, unconditional most favored-nation(MFN) treatment, conditional MFN treatment, global liberalization, and trade facilitation-and the arguments for and against each, this article concludes with recommendations for proceeding with the "open regionalism." Properly defined and implemented, it can enable APEC to simultaneously achieve regional and global free trade, and provide the definitive answer to the potential clash between "regionalism and globalism" by rolling all regional liberalization initiatives into a global free trade agreement and thereby eliminating all trade preferences. "Open regionalism" could and should be adopted as well by other evolving regional arrangements, so that it may turn out to be the most promising international trade strategy for the early 21st century.

Future Implementation of the United Nations International Convention on Disability : Promoting the Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Development

Ito, Akiko Institute for International Trade and Cooperation 2007 Asian International Studies Review Vol.8 No.1

The United States General Assembly adopted the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its optional Protocol on 13 December 2006. In accordance with the universal human rights principles and relevant norms evolved over six decades, the new Convention is expected to give definitive legal expressions, from the disability perspective, to the past experience of the United Nations in promoting the human rights of persons with disabilities in all aspects of social life and economic development. It is also expected that the future implementation of the international convention would provide an entry point for strengthening existing human rights and development frameworks at local, national, regional and international levels. It would be essential to work out strategies for publicizing and implementing the treaty at the local level to ensure its relevance and effectiveness for person with disabilities and their communities worldwide.

Internationa Cooperation in the Twenty-first Century : Familiar Problems and new Challenges

Jacobson, Harold Institute for International Trade and Cooperation 1997 Asian International Studies Review Vol.1 No.1

The creation and proliferation of international organizations of various sorts, increasing economic interdependence, the spread of democracy, and the strong leadership played by the United States all worked positively together to facilitate international cooperation during the second half of the twentieth century, overcoming to a great extent the familiar problem of 'cooperation under anarchy.' But humankind is confronting new challenges as well, arising from the shift in power relations among nation-states and the rise of new issues that call for global attention. One of the most prominent issues is the protection of environment. It is unclear how easily the formulas that have proved to be successful in bringing about international cooperation in the twentieth century can be applied to the new challenge. If a series of organized responses to the issue of climate change as shown in the completion and implementation the Framework Convention on Climate Change(FCCC) is any indication, however, the international community seems to have successfully begun to confront them. The relative promptness of action taken by the international community, the manner in which the issue is negotiated where the principle of equity was directly addressed, the comprehensiveness of the Treaty's scope, and responsible behavior of the states of the world, all point to broad optimism about international cooperation in the twenty-first century.

Global Competition Policy and Trade : Challenges for Developing Countries

Choi, Byung Il Institute for International Trade and Cooperation 1998 Asian International Studies Review Vol.2 No.1

The developing countries should be equipped with three essential elements for their journey to sustainable growth: access to the global market, access to effective technology, and relying on incentive-compatible market mechanism. In this context, some important competition policy issues are identified and discussed in this paper. Among other things, replacement of anti-dumping rule with competition rule, negotiations of a global investment rule under the auspices of the WTO, searching for a multilateral formula to deal with the unilateral nature of some advanced countries' policies, and competition advocacy are all claimed as part of the pressing agenda for developing countries.