South Korea puzzled by French dumping accusations

(PARIS) - South Korean Trade Minister Taeho Bark said he was puzzled by statements made by the French government, which has accused the Korean automobile industry of flooding the French market, in an interview posted online Thursday.

Bark said in the interview with the French daily Les Echos that he understood the concerns of France's Minister for Industrial Renewal, Arnaud Montebourg, but not his arguments.

Starting July, Montebourg has on several occasions claimed that South Korean manufacturers were effectively dumping their cars on the European market, a practice of selling goods for less than they cost to garner market share.

In August, France formally asked the European Union to begin monitoring car imports from South Korea in the first step towards a possible re-introduction of tariffs, in a request made under the terms of an EU-South Korea free trade agreement signed in 2010.

Bark denied the dumping accusations in the interview Thursday, insisting South Korea offered no subsidies at all to the auto-manufacturing sector.

He said it was not South Korea's fault that French automakers were struggling, adding that he thought France had benefitted from the free trade agreement.

Over the last 14 months, France had increased its exports to Korea, Bark said, putting his country at a trade deficit with France.

France's car sector has been weak for months following the end of a cash-for-clunkers government bonus to support car sales at the height of the eurozone financial crisis.

The manufacturers' organisation CCFA announced earlier this month that French car sales dropped 18.3 percent year-on-year in September, signalling more gloom for domestic firms struggling with plummeting demand in Europe and high production costs.