South Korea will not seek special status given to developing countries

South Korean finance minister, Hong Nam-ki, stated that South Korea will no longer ask for the special treatment reserved for developing countries by the World Trade Organization in any future dialogues. South Korea's status in developing countries was self-designated.

A self-designated status

In a public address, Hong stated that the South Korean government took the decision of not seeking special treatment. He also said that their current decision is not to let go of the developing country status but it intends to no longer ask for any special treatment.

With it being Asia's fourth-largest economy, South Korea had held on to its developing-country status as a member of the WTO since the year 1995 in order to protect its agriculture industry alongside imposing a high tariff of more than a total of 500 per cent on imports of rice. The announcement by South Korea will most probably put some amount of pressure on China to also give up its developing-country status.

Read: Japan: Relation With South Korea Shouldn't Be Left In Severe State

A big win for Trump

A South Korean professor, Cheong In-Kyo, stated that it was a big win for Trump as he has continuously asked for the world's second-largest economy to give up the status granted by the WTO. A professor, Chung In-Kyo, stated that there may be impacts on the South Korean economy in the near future, all depending on how the United States run the WTO, talking about the American influence of the World Trade body.

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The decision by South Korea has come at a time when it is involved in a negotiation with the US over the financial costs of sustaining the American forces in South Korea. In addition to this, it was not clear that the decision taken would give a boost to the Korean nation in the dialogues on cost-sharing with the US. 

Also, the United States President, Donald Trump, mentioned the name of South Korea in a list of countries claiming the special status even though it was one of the world's richest economies. Also, Trump warned of stern actions and listed and deemed  Macau, Qatar, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Mexico, Turkey, China, Brunei, Hong Kong, Kuwait and South Korea not "worthy" of the special status.

Read: China Seeks $2.4 Billion In Penalties Against US At WTO

Read: India, China No Longer 'developing Nations', Won't Let Them Take 'advantage' From WTO: US President Donald Trump

(With inputs from agencies)