In Korea today, wages in the auto industry are about half as high as ours in Canada. Now, I would not call Korea a low-wage economy; it has developed very quickly and wages have grown quickly there. I think there are still some issues around human rights and labour rights in Korea. Some of the Korean trade union leaders have been arrested for opposing the free trade agreement. But for the most part, it's not unfair low wages that will be their source of advantage. It will be this very effective industry that they have built in Korea with so much government assistance--subsidized capital, protections on imports, and promotion for exports. Those are the things that have allowed Korea to become so successful globally, while strictly limiting their imports into their own market.
On December 11th, 2007. See this statement in context.