Recently,South Korea announced that it would abandon its status as a developing country in the WT0.This is another important country that has made relevant decisions since Brazil publicly announced its abandonment of its status as a developing country in March this year.This move is another major event following the memorandum written by Trump to US Trade Representative Robert Lethezer in July this year(which states that the US will unilaterally abandon its support for 35 developing countries such as China,South Korea,Brazil,Hong Kong,Singapore,Qatar,and the United Arab Emirates in 90 days'time),This also shows that the United States is strengthening its efforts to forcefully promote changes in the WTO principles of special and differential treatment for developing countries.

Since the establishment of the World Trade Organization(WTO)in 1995,South Korea has been identified as a developing country.However,over time,South Korea has narrowed the scope of application of preferential rules for developing countries to particularly sensitive policy areas such as agricultural and environmental regulations that it considers to be the most important.This is similar to China's situation,because although China claimed to be a developing country when it joined the WTO,in fact,most developed countries did not accept China's claim,and the special and differential treatment that China enjoys in the WTO has been reduced.

The negotiations on the WTO Doha Development Agenda(including the agricultural sector)began in 2001,with the goal of replacing the outcome of the Uruguay Round negotiations(concluded in 1995).However,differences between developed and developing countries led to the suspension of the WTO Doha negotiations in 2008.It has been suspended for more than ten years now,and there is almost no opportunity to see a breakthrough.Although the United States is pushing 35 countries to abandon their status as developing countries,it will definitely encounter opposition from most countries,including China and India.Therefore,even if new WTO negotiations begin,the final agreement is likely to be difficult to achieve.As the conclusion of the above-mentioned negotiations(including agricultural negotiations)is far from being reached,the abandonment of South Korea's status as a developing country does not mean that the restrictions on its most important agricultural tariffs and subsidies will be immediately adjusted to the level of developed countries.Based on the above,we believe that South Korea's abandonment of its status as a developing country is only symbolic and will not lead to changes in tariffs or subsidies for most of its products,nor will it cause any actual damage to its domestic agriculture or farmers in the long term.

After abandoning its status as a developing country,South Korea is bound to prepare for the changes that the next round of WTO negotiations will bring to its agriculture.If restrictions on tariffs and subsidies are brought into line with the status of developed countries through such negotiations,South Korea's agricultural sector will inevitably suffer.As the WTO allows member countries to adopt direct financial support for public purposes,it is also allowed for their farmers to obtain subsidies unrelated to specific products or direct production.This is also a response measure that many developing countries,including China,need to focus on in the future.

We need to note that when South Korea made the above decision,the negotiations between South Korea and the United States on how to share the cost of American troops stationed in South Korea were at an impasse.Therefore,South Korea was forced to make the above decision,which also had significant interest exchange considerations.

In short,the decision of South Korea and other countries to abandon their status as developing countries in the WTO may have an impact on the Korean economy in the future,but ultimately depends on how the United States affects the operation of the WTO and future WTO negotiations.

(This article is translated by software translator for reference only.)