▲ Students holding a petition to bring the Korea-US FTA Talks to a halt.

 The final round of talks for the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was completed on March 12 in Seoul. Since the talk began in 2006, some students had established a group called the Ewha Student Group against the Korea-US FTA.

“Although the Korea-US FTA was a crucial issue, the talks were progressing imminently. So we felt promoting our thoughts and collecting people’s opinion on the issue to come up with counter proposals were necessary,” said a member Lee Ki-hyun (Korean Literature, 3).

Unlike other groups, the Ewha Student Group against the Korea-US FTA consists of undergraduate, graduate students and faculty members and has been holding numerous activities. They collected a petition with 1,800 signatures from Ewha affiliates and sent to the Korean Alliance against KorUS FTA. “We started with a petition because it is the most effective activity that students could easily participate and bring about change when only ratification is left,” said Lee. “An enormous number of Ewha students signing up to stop the FTA was a successful campaign,” Lee added.

The group also handed out fliers and pasted posters around campus to draw students’ attention to their Anti-FTA movement. Also, they supported and co-organized many discussions and participated in a march.

The Ewha Student Group against the Korea-US FTA is now busy to plan for their upcoming campaigns. They plan to hold another petition around campus, a special lecture and post posters containing negotiation results.

“Now is the most crucial moment as the Congress’s ratification is left only. I hope many Ewha students can show their concerns and voices on the Korea-US FTA,” said Lee.

저작권자 © Ewha Voice 무단전재 및 재배포 금지