1.      Mr. Cho Tae-yul, Director General of the Regional Trade Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and 
Trade (MOFAT), and Ms. Amy Jackson, Deputy Assistant for Korea Office of the United States Trade 
Representative (USTR), headed the Korean and U.S. delegations, respectively, at the second 2003 Korea-
U.S. Quarterly Trade Talks on October 27-28 in Washington, DC.  The delegates discussed several issues, 
including facilitation of the non-immigration visa issuance process, imposition of countervailing duties on 
DRAMs from Korea, steel safeguard measures, customs clearance of agricultural goods, communication 
standards, cost of pharmaceuticals, protection of intellectual property rights, and automobile trade, along 
with other general trade pending questions between the two countries.  This meeting is the 8th Korea-U.S. 
Quarterly Trade Talks to be held since the Korea-U.S. Trade Minister Talks in March 2001 when the two sides 
agreed to hold quarterly trade meetings.  

2.      Relating to tightening up of the visa issuance process of the U.S. after the 9/11 terror incident, the 
Korean side remarked that Korea has the largest application pool for non-immigration visas to the U.S. and 
Koreans are the 5th largest group to visit the U.S.   Accordingly, the tightened visa issuance process is 
adversely affecting the Korea-U.S. economic cooperation and human exchange programs, and will ultimately 
result in undesirable consequences for the development of Korea-U.S. relations.  Furthermore, the Korean 
side requested that the interview exemption program be continued for efficiently conducting the visa 
issuance process. The Korean side also requested that the U.S. embassy in Korea increase its consul staff 
and an on-line visa application program be implemented.  The U.S. side expressed their understanding for 
Korea’s concerns, while explaining that in light of the development of the interview exemption program, 
which originally was to end in October this year, has been extended until August 2004, further exceptions 
might be difficult.

A.       The Korean side also requested that the Bio-terrorism Act enacted after the 9/11 incident, which 
requires registration of export facilities for food products as well as advance notice for importation of food 
goods, operate in a non-trade restrictive manner.  The U.S. side explained that they will collect opinions on 
the implementation of the Act, which will come into effect on December 12, until next March. 

B.       The Korean side once again expressed regret for the countervailing duties imposed on imports of 
DRAMs from Korea.  The U.S. side responded that the matter should be discussed according to WTO 
procedures.  In connection with the U.S. steel safeguard measures, the Korean delegation insisted on their 
prompt withdrawal as the measures had been found by a WTO panel to be inconsistent with the WTO 
agreements.  The U.S. side clarified that the U.S. government is currently investigating how to proceed with 
these issues.

C.       The Korean side expressed gratitude for allowing the export of Korean persimmons to the U.S. since 
June of this year, and requested that the necessary process for exporting fruit and vegetable products, 
including melons, cucumber, pumpkin, and watermelon, as well as paprika, be completed at the earliest 
possible date.  The U.S. side stated that they would process the Korean government’s requests in the order 
of priority.

D.       Additionally, the Korea side requested that the privatized Korea Telecom (KT) and the Korea Tobacco 
and Ginseng Corporation (KT&G), along with Daehan Printing & Publishing Co. be exempted from the 
application of the WTO/GPA.  The U.S. side stated that they will examine this issue.  Both sides agreed to 
hold a specialist meeting in November this year to deal with issues concerning the simplification of the 
certification process on TV sets that was proposed by Korea at the talks.

3.     The U.S. side emphasized that the establishment of telecommunication standards should be led by the 
private sector, while requesting that improvements of pharmaceutical systems in Korea be carried out in a 
transparent and non-discriminatory manner.  The U.S. side also pointed out the importance of progress in 
matters pertaining to the non-regular monitoring of intellectual property rights protection in Korea as per the 
Special 301 process, which is scheduled for November this year.  Furthermore, the U.S. delegation 
requested simplification of customs clearance of food products.  In addition, the U.S. side noted that even 
though a trade imbalance in the automobile sector between the two countries persists, they hope that the 
Korean government will continue its efforts to improve the access of foreign cars to the Korean market.

A.       The Korean side explained that communication standards are being set through civil initiatives and 
that the pharmaceutical system is being made more transparent.  The Korean side also explained that the 
Korean government has been actively promoting protection of intellectual property rights, as a consequence 
of which, most of the pending issues between Korea and the U.S. in the field of intellectual property rights 
have been resolved.

4.      During the Talks, Korean delegates were able to address most of the concerns on the U.S. side.  Also, 
visa issuance process, Korea’s agricultural export to the U.S., simplifying the certification process of TV set, 
and other important trade matters were discussed in a balanced manner at the Talks.

                                                                   Spokesperson of MOFAT

* unofficial translation