http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...e_030910230217
CANCUN, Mexico (AFP) - The protest suicide of a South Korean man and clashes between demonstrators and police in Cancun overshadowed the first day of a World Trade Organization (news - web sites) conference in the Mexican resort.
"We all regret this sad incident," WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi said after Lee Kyang Hae, 55, stabbed himself during a protest.
"This self-inflicted wound has resulted in his death, so we do regret it," he said.
A fellow militant said that Lee's act was meant to "demonstrate opposition to the WTO, which is killing our farmers and destroying Korea's agriculture."
Lee, who headed South Korea (news - web sites)'s Federation of Farmers and Fishermen, stabbed himself on the sidelines of a protest by several thousand people, which ended in clashes between police and a few hundred demonstrators that left several people injured.
Barriers and a massive security deployment kept demonstrators more than 10 kilometers (six miles) away from the convention center where ministers from the 146-member WTO were seeking to relaunch a free trade agenda.
Earlier in the day, about 30 people inside the conference hall chanted anti-WTO slogans as Supachai delivered his opening address.
"We will only achieve the objectives of trade and development if there are benefits for all," Supachai told the meeting.
"We face a choice here in Cancun: either we continue to strengthen the multilateral trading system and the world economy or we flounder and add to the prevailing uncertainties," he said to jeers from protesters.
The gathering has also sparked protests from Asia to Europe.
But the damage done to the WTO by the delegates themselves could prove to be far greater than that caused by activists, notably if some delegations carry out a threat to walk away from the talks if their demands for farm trade reforms are ignored.
Australia's Trade Minister Mark Vaile, among those who threatened a walk-out, stressed his country "will only accept an outcome that will result in a significant improvement in agricultural trade."
Agriculture is the most contentious issue thwarting efforts by the WTO to implement the Doha Development Agenda, an ambitious road map for eliminating global trade barriers adopted in the Qatari capital, Doha, in November 2001.
European Trade Commissioner Patrick Lamy said the EU was ready "to go the extra mile to bring us to agreement."
He stressed that the key overall goal was "the integration of developing countries into the world economy," though he insisted the global trade group was not divided between poor and rich nations.
"It would be a great mistake to see the situation this way and at odds with reality," he said in remarks to the conference.
But Indian Commerce Minister Arun Jaitly criticized a text submitted for discussion at the meeting, saying "it does not accommodate the legitimate aspirations of developing countries and instead seeks to project and advance the views of certain developed countries."
On Wednesday evening, delegates were to discuss a proposal by four African states that calls for the elimination of subsidies for cotton production and export over a period of four years.
African cotton growers say agricultural subsidies in the United States threaten the survival of the sector in impoverished African countries.
But US cotton growers have vowed to launch a concerted effort to thwart any attempt to trim their subsidies, which come to roughly 3.9 billion dollars annually.
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