A member of the opposition Democratic Labor Party throws tear gas towards the speaker in South Korea's National Assembly in an attempt to block the ratification of a free trade bill with the US from passing.
A member of the opposition Democratic Labor Party throws tear gas towards the speaker in South Korea's National Assembly in an attempt to block the ratification of a free trade bill with the US from pShow more

Tear gas and punches thrown over South Korea's free trade bill with US



SEOUL // South Korea's ruling party forced a long-stalled free trade deal with the United States through parliament today, enraging opposition lawmakers who blasted their political rivals with tear gas.

South Korean representatives voted 151 to 7 in favour of ratifying the landmark trade agreement in a surprise legislative session called by the ruling Grand National Party, parliamentary officials said.

Shouts and screams filled the National Assembly as ruling party representatives forced their way onto the parliamentary floor. Amid the scuffling, one opposition member doused rivals with tear gas.

Security guards hustled him out of the chamber as he shouted and tried to resist. Outside the National Assembly building, opponents of the deal scuffled with police mobilised to maintain order.

The pact is the US's biggest free-trade agreement since the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. Two-way trade between the United States and South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy, totalled about US$90 billion (Dh3.3 trillion) last year, according to the South Korean government.

After the deal was approved less than an hour after the tussle began, dozens of opposition lawmakers and aides - who fought hard to prevent passage of an agreement they say favours US over South Korean workers - sat slumped around the chamber podium. One legislator leaned her head against the shoulder of another as they both stared at the floor in silence.

Such chaotic scenes are not uncommon in South Korea's parliament, where rival parties have a history of resorting to physical confrontation over highly charged issues. In 2008, opposition lawmakers used a sledgehammer to force their way into a barricaded committee room to stop the ruling party from introducing a debate on the US trade deal.

President Lee Myung-bak's ruling party commands a majority in South Korea's single-chamber, 295-seat parliament but had not forced the deal through earlier, apparently out of worry over a public backlash ahead of next year's presidential and parliamentary elections.

The presidential Blue House welcomed the deal's passage, pledging in a statement to use it as a chance to improve the economy and create jobs. The main opposition Democratic Party said it would boycott all other parliamentary sessions in protest and demanded that top ruling party leaders resign.

Lawmakers have been wrangling over ratification of the free trade deal since US Congress and Barack Obama, the US president, approved the deal last month after years of divisive debate in the US.

A key sticking point was a provision that opponents say would allow investors to take disputes falling under the agreement's jurisdiction to a US-influenced international arbitration panel. The opposition calls for removal of the provision.

Mr Lee offered to seek renegotiation of the provision if the opponents in parliament vote for ratification. The Democratic Party, however, rebuffed Mr Lee's proposal, saying negotiations should take place first.

Debate over the deal has been heated, with nearly daily protests outside the National Assembly and opposition lawmakers camping out in a committee room for weeks to block the vote.

Earlier this month, South Korean police fired water cannons to disperse more than 2,000 protesters trying to break into the National Assembly during a debate.

There were concerns the demonstrations might mirror those in 2008, when South Korea's move to lift a ban on US beef triggered weeks of massive street protests over worries about the meat's safety and criticism that Seoul had made too many concessions to Washington.

Jung Tae-in, an economist, said the trade deal would widen the gap between haves and have-nots.

"South Korea will falter in the early stages of the implementation of the deal because the United States is economically more powerful," he said.

But Kim Jung-sik, an economics professor at the Yonsei University in Seoul, said fears about damage to South Korea's economy are overblown.

"Free trade still works to South Korea's advantage because the country is so reliant on exports," he said

South Korea, a major exporter of industrial goods such as automobiles and consumer electronics, has aggressively sought free trade agreements and already has several in effect, including with Chile, India, the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the European Union.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement today that it will work to get the trade deal to take effect on January 1 2012.

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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