Discussions regarding a Korea-China free trade agreement got off to a rough start on Friday, with the first public hearing being adjourned for a time due to protesters.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade organized the first public hearing on the trade deal with China in southern Seoul, but the event was stalled by protesters for about 90 minutes immediately after it kicked off at 10 a.m.

At the start of the meeting, about 30 members of agricultural industry associations, including the Korean Advanced Farmers Association, entered the venue and occupied the podium.

The event was adjourned and resumed at about 11:30 a.m. after the police removed some of the protesters from the podium.

However, about 10 protesters remained seated in front of the podium, shouting anti-FTA slogans.

The police said that the protesters removed from the venue were segregated, but they did not arrest nor book anybody.

“An FTA with China will be an agreement that will kill the agricultural industry,” Kim Joon-bong, chief of the Korean Advanced Farmers Association said. According to Kim, research institutions estimate that damages the agricultural industry will sustain from an FTA with China will be five times greater than that from the Korea-U.S. FTA.

“No efforts by the government to form a free trade agreement with China are acceptable.”

The bilateral trade deal with China has been discussed for some time and the two sides have conducted a joint study on the issue. However, the process of establishing an agreement is still in the early stages with only one round of preparatory talks having taken place.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)