1. The Korean government is concerned that the decision by the U.S. Administration to request the initiation 
of an investigation to the ITC(International Trade Commission) regarding the injury to domestic steel industry 
by steel import in accordance to Section 201(Safeguard Measure) of the U.S. Trade Act, could negatively 
affect the environment for an early launch of a new round of multilateral trade negotiations and spark off a 
global spread of protectionist measures. 

2. The Korean government has repeatedly pointed out on numerous occasions such as the Korea-U.S. 
Trade Ministers' Meeting and a letter of the Korean Minister for Trade on March 30 addressed to U.S. Trade 
Representative Ambassador Zoellick that the difficulties faced by the U.S. steel industry are not caused by 
imports but more related to the inefficient restructuring problem on the part of the U.S. steel industry. Such 
position has also been made known to the USTR by other concerned exporting countries. Under such 
circumstances, it is regrettable that the request for investigation for the safeguard measures has been 
initiated without any reference to the restructuring of the U.S. steel industry. The Korean government is also 
concerned that the investigation would be detrimental to the much needed U.S. leadership as the advocate 
of free trade. 

3. The Korean government will continue to assert for prudence on the part of the U.S. Administration 
regarding the safeguard measures on steel, and in the case of actual implementation of the safeguard 
measures, will undertake detailed review on the conformity of the measures to the WTO provisions. In this 
regard, the Korean government will further strengthen consultations with other concerned steel exporting 
countries such as EU and Japan. 

4. Nevertheless, the Korean government plans to actively participate in multilateral negotiations aimed at 
addressing such problems as world-wide steel over-capacity issue, as proposed by President Bush on 
June 5. It is hoped that the negotiations can formulate solutions to the world steel trade issues through 
multilateral dialogue. 


                                                             Spokesperson of MOFAT

* unofficial translation