SEOUL, July 18 (Xinhua) -- A group of senior liberals in South Korea, including former ministers and professors, on Thursday criticized U.S. President Donald Trump for his "beggar-thy-neighbor" policy.
The group said in a statement that Trump unilaterally announced his plan to impose a reciprocal tariff of 25 percent on all South Korean products from Aug. 1, constituting a clear violation of the South Korea-U.S. free trade agreement under which Seoul levies near-zero tariffs on almost all U.S. goods.
"His tariff policy is not a legitimate trade measure but a revival of 1930s-style protectionism, a beggar-thy-neighbor policy aimed at enriching its own country by impoverishing neighbors," the statement noted.
It stressed that should his demands be met, the Asian economy would be pushed to the edge of a cliff, with core industries collapsing, food sovereignty undermined, and workers and farmers left in a state of havoc.
The statement was signed by 10 senior liberals, including former unification ministers.
The senior members noted that Trump also demanded that South Korea pay 10 billion U.S. dollars for defense cost-sharing for about 28,500 U.S. troops stationed here, a figure around 9.7 times bigger than Seoul's contributions this year.
They said the U.S. soldiers in South Korea have sought to reorient themselves toward upholding the U.S. hegemony in the Indo-Pacific region, causing harm to peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula.
"What began as economic pressure has now extended to life-and-death matters, which President Trump treats as mere bargaining chips under the banner of America First," the statement said.
"As elders of (South) Korean civil society, expressing care for our young people and the future of (South) Korea, we hereby declare our categorical rejection of President Trump's unjust behavior," it noted.■
