Representatives from America’s top businesses in Korea and their trade group, the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AMCHAM Korea), came together for a panel discussion on the current business conditions in South Korea and what both the U.S. and South Korean governments need to do to wrap up the Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The speakers were: Wayne Chumley, chairman of AMCHAM Korea; Tami Overby, president of AMCHAM Korea; Tong-Soo Chung, head of Invest Korea and senior vice president of KOTRA; Michael Zink, vice chairman of AMCHAM Korea and senior executive vice president of Citibank Korea; David Ruch, Korea country manager for United Airlines; Henry I. An, partner at Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers; James Reinstein, regional vice president for Boston Scientific; Il-Young Maing, president of United Technologies International and Jeffery Jones, attorney at Kim & Chang.

Many on the panel had just returned from AMCHAM Korea’s annual lobbying trip to Capitol Hill. According to Wayne Chumley, support for the U.S.-Korea FTA under negotiation is surprisingly high among lawmakers.

Michael Zink, whose company spent $3 billion in 2004 to acquire KorAm bank, held up his company’s experience as an example of the success open markets can create. When Citibank bought KorAm, he said, there was a public backlash, as many Koreans feared their domestic banks would be run out of business. Instead, Korea’s big banks have rethought their strategies and become stronger competitors. An FTA would mean little for U.S. investment in Korea’s financial sector, Zink added, because the country’s financial markets are already open to foreign investment.

T.S. Chung noted that American investors frequently use Korea as a safe haven from which to access risky opportunities in China. While welcoming the activity, Chung said Korea should be seen as an opportunity in its own right. China has so much foreign investment already, Chung said, that it’s cutting back on the tax incentives and grants it makes to foreign companies. Korea is ramping them up.

Closing the discussion, Jeffery Jones urged U.S. politicians to move forward on the issue of adding Korea to the country’s visa waiver program. The current U.S. visa regime is an irksome process for South Korean travelers. Relaxing it would win a great deal of respect from the Korean public, and bring millions more visitors, and billions more dollars, to America each year.