우리나라 공적 무역보험의 국제 무역협정 정합성 평가와 시사점

Some governments provide subsidies to exporters indirectly via official export credit agencies (ECAs) in the form of a low insurance premium that is inadequate to covers long-term costs and losses. This type of business practice is deemed unfair by international trade organizations such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and hence prohibited. According to our research, Korea's major export-competitors, such as the US, Japan, and most European countries abide by these agreements. However, Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (KSURE) has maintained a market dominant position while receiving hundreds of billions KRWs from Korean government annually, which have been used in part to cover operating losses. Hence, there exists a significant chance that this operating practice can be considered as a breach of the aforementioned international trade agreements. Furthermore, there is a good chance that Japan's recent request for consultations with Korea concerning the Korean government's possible unfair support for its commercial vessels industry might have been triggered in part by this practice. A breach of international trade agreements can cause disputes between member countries and sometimes leads to a permitted retaliation (usually in the form of tariffs) while damaging the reputation of the breacher. Therefore, Korean government must consider amending its official export credit agency (ECA) management scheme by thoroughly reviewing the possibility of the official ECA's international agreement breaches.