SKorean Farmers Protest Against Free Trade With US, More than twenty thousand South Korean farmers rallied on Tuesday to denounce free trade with the United States, ahead of US President Barack Obama’s visit to the country.
In downtown Seoul, farmers wearing red headbands held a massive rally, chanting anti-government slogans and denouncing the free trade deal with the US. They said the United States’ cheap agricultural products will ruin their life. “I think we should deliver our views on South Korea’s agricultural situation to US President Obama. I also think we should have a well-balanced agreement between the two countries on agricultural issues, so that we farmers can make our own living,” said Kang Woo-hyun, a leader of the protest. Angry farmers demonstrated burning Korean alphabets meaning “solution to the rice crisis” and also burned bags of rice to protest the government’s agricultural policies. They said the government was threatening their living and urged the government to come up with better policies and sincere support.
South Korea has submitted the free-trade deal to parliament for approval. Some studies said it could boost the two countries’ $78 billion annual trade by a quarter. The ruling conservative Grand National party has pledged to pass it soon. However, US President Barack Obama, who will soon visit the country, had called for the South Korea trade deal to be re-negotiated because he says the agreements’ auto provision favours South Korean automakers too much. Obama also said on Sunday in Singapore that Washington would take steps to reduce the United States’ long-term deflect and would work with South Korea to move forward on the free trade deal.

WASHINGTON : Time Very Short for Iran on Nuclear Deal: US, Iran faces a “very short” window to submit its formal response to a U.N.-brokered deal meant to allay suspicions that it seeks to develop nuclear weapons, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday.

“Frustration is mounting,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told a news briefing, noting that Tehran had still not made a formal reply to a proposal drafted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) more than a month ago.

“We’re not prepared to actually pronounce that they have rejected the deal because they haven’t formally rejected the deal yet,” Kelly said.

“We always hesitate to give a formal deadline — but I would just say that time is very short.”

Kelly did not specify the time frame he meant by “short.”

Kelly added that an IAEA report this week that said Iran’s belated revelation of a new uranium enrichment site raised concern about possible further nuclear secrets underscored the need for full Iranian compliance with its international obligations.

The draft deal brokered by the IAEA, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, calls on Iran to send some 75 percent of its low-enriched uranium (LEU) to Russia and France to be turned into fuel for a Tehran medical research reactor.

Iran, which says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and not making bombs, says it prefers to buy reactor fuel from foreign suppliers rather than part with its low-enriched uranium. Such uranium could be used for bombs if enriched further.

Tehran has yet to give a full, official reply on the proposal drafted in September after talks involving Iran, France, Russia and the United States. Iran accepted the Western-backed proposal in principle on Oct. 1.

The United States has rejected Iranian calls for amendments and further talks on the deal, saying it is ready to seek further international sanctions against Tehran should the deal fall through.

“The failure to provide a response to this, and its overall noncompliance as laid out in the IAEA agreement, frankly doesn’t give us a whole lot of confidence that they will respond formally,” Kelly said.