Korea widens trade-adjustment aid to cover foreign trade measures

South Korea's trade and labor ministries said Thursday they have widened the pool of workers who can seek government support for trade-related disruption, extending it to damage caused by foreign trade measures as well as by the implementation of trade treaties.

The change took effect the same day under a revision to the enforcement rule of the Act on Responding to and Supporting Changes in the Trade Environment, issued as Industry Ministry Ordinance No. 24, according to the Ministry of Employment and Labor. The parent law was amended in April and took effect Oct. 22.

The government's stated reason for the revision was to help Korean companies respond effectively to foreign trade measures. The revision follows the April amendment of the parent law, promulgated as Act No. 21569 and taking effect Oct. 22, which expanded trade-change support from damage caused by the implementation of trade treaties to damage caused by such implementation or by foreign trade measures.

The practical change is a single line on a form. Annex Form No. 7, the application workers use to be designated as eligible for trade-change support, asks companies to state the type of trade impact they suffered. That field previously read "implementation of trade treaties and the like"; it now reads "implementation of trade treaties and the like or foreign trade measures."

A foreign trade measure is defined as a trade-related action taken by another country under its own laws and regulations that meets criteria set by the industry minister in consultation with the foreign and labor ministers.

The measure sits under a law that descends from the former Act on Trade Adjustment Support for Manufacturing and Other Industries, and its enforcement decree and rule are issued jointly by the industry and labor ministries.

Workers covered by the programme are designated as eligible on application by the company that employs them, which must describe the trade impact it has faced.