In Seoul on 09 April, EU Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström co-chaired the 8th Trade Committee set up by the EU-South-Korea trade agreement that was initially signed back in 2010 and that both parties recognize as being a success. The meeting was nonetheless somewhat marred by Seoul’s difficulty in approving a section of the ILO’s fundamental conventions that aim to improve working conditions and labor rights. Since the troublesome TTIP (UE-US) and CETA (EU-Canada) negotiations, the European Commission has been trying to promote and extend the scope of social clauses being introduced in these types of agreements.
Of the ILO’s 8 official fundamental conventions, South Korea still hasn’t ratified:
- No. 87 on the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise,
- No. 98 on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention,
- No. 29 the Convention Concerning Forced or Compulsory Labour, and,
- No. 105, the Abolition of Forced Labour Convention.
During the press conference on 09 April, Commissioner Malmström strongly reminded the South Korean Employment and Labor Minister that the deadli
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