SEOUL, May 19 (UPI) -- South Korean Cabinet ministers Friday urged local labor groups to scrap their plan to stage anti-globalization rallies in the United States.
In their joint statement, Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon and four other ministers said the planned protests would damage relations between South Korea and the United States that have been already strained over how to deal with North Korea.
A group of South Korea's civic and labor activists plans to travel to Washington early next month to hold rallies against free trade talks between the two countries.
"The government has serious concerns about the move by the anti-FTA (free trade agreement) organization to dispatch a group of protesters to the United States," said the statement, also signed by Deputy Prime Minister for Finance Han Duck-soo.
Other signatories were Justice Minister Chun Jung-bae, Agriculture Minister Park Hoong-soo and Labor Minister Lee Sang-soo.
"The protest may have a negative effect on our efforts to negotiate the visa-waiver program with the United States," said the statement.
"We sincerely call on the organization to immediately scrap the plan, which is damaging our national image," it said, citing violent anti-globalization rallies in Hong Kong late last year.
In December, some 2,500 South Korean protestors traveled to Hong Kong to oppose the World Trade Organization talks and anti-globalization rallies. More than 1,000 were briefly detained by the Hong Kong police for their violent protests.
