Petition for Reciprocal Operating Agreement between the U.S. and Korea

In the past, Dept of Defense (DoD) personnel and Foreigners in South Korea could get a Ham Radio license for the duration of their stay in Korea. Recently a South Korean Ham journeyed to the U.S. and couldn't operate since there is currently no Reciprocal Operating Agreement. Since then, South Korea has limited foreigners to a total of 6 months operating privileges, no matter how long they stay in Korea. This is a problem for DoD personnel and exPats living in Korea since they will have to abide by the 6 month limit. U.S. Amateur Radio Operators have been working with the FCC and State Dept, who generated the draft documents for the Reciprocal Operating Agreement. Korea has determined at this time that there are more important things to work on instead of "fixing" the problem they created by limiting the operating time to 6 months. Please sign the petition at the attached link so we can encourage the Korean Ministry of Information and Communication to sign the document that's already been created for them. They can make changes, but at this time, they just need to work the issue.

https://www.change.org/p/korea-sign-the-ham-radio-operator-reciprocal-operating-agreement

 

Just "work the issue"
there has to be more to this than meets the eye
signing a petition I feel is worthless
how many hams are stationed there, its probably no significant amount
we cant get a CCR lift here let alone the amateur radio parity act and you want this to pass

 

Never laugh at anyone's dreams, those without dreams have nothing...
Would have taken you all of 1 minute to sign...

You've likely never operated from DX locations.
Reciprocal licensing is important.

9A1/K7JOE (*operating this time, from Croatia as I type)...

 

The SK government has much bigger issues to solve in the short term. Given the political dynamics going on in the area, it's no wonder that they aren't interested in looking at long-term treaty entanglements with foreign governments, no matter how insignificant the subject.

 

Hey Matt! LOVE your QRZ page,links and loop construction sir! Thank your lucky stars we're not neighbors! You'd never get rid of me! 73!

 

You too.

 

I'd rather have a Reciprocal Operating Agreement with North Korea.

 

Did the old agreement expire if so when, or was it revoked for some reason ? Did read the link to the petition.

 

By the way, how is a petition on a US political website going to affect Korean government operations?

 

SO TRUE, right on point

 

I'm the one that has posted this and it's pretty clear that people tend to jump to conclusions and working the issue is what we're doing. The reason the old method was revoked is due to one particular SK ham who couldn't operate in the U.S. and complained to the Korean Amateur Radio League, who then took it up to the KCC/MIC. Instead of starting the negotiation of a Reciprocal Operating Agreement, they just shut it down to 6 months total. For us, "working the issue" has been working with the FCC and State Dept, getting the Reciprocal Operating Agreement draft, having the govt send it to the US Embassy and preparing to work on it. Now the ball is in the Korean corner and they are "waiting". This has nothing to do with a CCR or the process involved in the US. If you look on the KARL homepage, they too as showing that they want the Reciprocal Operating Agreement and are in favor of it. The issue is that if they can revoke privileges with the strike of a pen, they can open the privileges with the strike of a pen also. Another answer here is for the SK to understand that the world is watching and would like to have the agreement in place. I get email all the time asking about how they can operate while visiting in SK. It would be much easier to operate with the agreement (no $45 fee and $10 inspection fee per radio). So, let's do something constructive about the issue and get people back to operating.

 

A couple of things.

First, if that is all the real issue, then the petition is far too long, and it is way too critical of the SKorea regulators. Just point out to them that the US side of the agreement is ready, and encourage them to (re)join it.

Second, don't be surprised if a lot of "waiting" goes on with respect to SKorea's relationships with outsiders for a while. Every single thing they do is an excuse for their northern neighbors to question their sincerity with respect to the much larger ongoing negotiations with them. So it's entirely possible that regulators have adopted an internal "hold" or moratorium on new rules or foreign agreements until that larger issue is settled.

 

Yeah … But isn't it only "Fearless Leader" that would operate the legendary P5 ! Ahhh… Rocky and Bullwinkle lives !

 

NO I havent nor do I have any desire to sign nor dx
Im not saying you do this, Ive worked you before and you're a true gentleman, but you know other DXers
the average ham works all week, tries to play some radio on weekends and cant find a clear freq bc of dx pileups
dx'rs have no concern for others, Ive seen too much nonsense and over the years its getting worse
DX'ing wastes spectrum and clogs the bands
what we need is a small sub band for such, let it shrink like they did to CW, it doesnt need to consume entire bands
have some morals I say to these folks
the arrl boasts its for collective events while promoting individualistic events (DX) that doesnt further the interest of the general ham populous
Im off my soapbox

 

It’s not just operating HF DX. (I operate mostly cw) but now - Even a simple hotspot ham bands mmdvm dongle - suddenly becomes illegal for a traveling ham to be able to get on air with his simple hand held that he travels with , and chat with buddies on DMR / Fusion / DStar back home.

This trip, I brought my jumbospot and ft70 fusion to get on from several places. Local SIM card in my phone, tether mode, go to a famous castle, make some contacts on the reflectors- gives some hams in other places a chance to learn about something rather than just ask how is their signal and what the weather is doing...

Reciprocal licensing, for some IS the very essence of ham radio.