South Korea's Entire Cabinet Offers To Resign Over US Beef Protests

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea's entire Cabinet offered to resign Tuesday following a public uproar over the planned resumption of U.S. beef imports, despite concerns of mad cow disease.

Prime Minister Han Seung-soo tendered his resignation along with other government ministers to President Lee Myung-bak, a spokesman at the prime minister's office said.

Government ministers conveyed their intention to step down to Han during a weekly Cabinet meeting earlier Tuesday, said the spokesman, Cho Hong-nam.

The president's office said it could not confirm the resignation offers because Han's meeting with the president was still under way.

South Korea agreed in April to lift almost all quarantine restrictions that had been imposed on U.S. beef over fears of mad cow disease. The decision has sparked weeks of fierce protests amid perceptions the government did not do enough to protect citizens.

The beef issue has confounded the conservative, pro-U.S. Lee, who took office in February after a landslide election victory in December on pledges to boost the economy and bolster ties with Washington.

Both Seoul and Washington say U.S. beef is safe, citing the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health. Protesters say they can't trust what Lee says.

Scientists believe the disease spreads when farmers feed cattle recycled meat and bones from infected animals. The U.S. banned recycled feeds in 1997. In humans, eating meat products contaminated with the illness is linked to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare and fatal malady.

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Lee dispatched several delegations of officials to Washington on Monday to help defuse the crisis and seek assurances that the U.S. will not import beef from cattle older than 30 months, even though that is allowed under the agreement.

Younger cattle are believed to be less susceptible to mad cow disease.

Lee hinted at a Cabinet reshuffle Monday when he met Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk to seek advice on the beef dispute.

Lee said the National Assembly should end its fighting over the beef issue soon so that it can conduct hearings on new appointees in the event he reshuffles his Cabinet, according to the presidential spokesman.

Thousands of South Koreans have staged rallies against the beef deal. Protests early Sunday turned violent.

Also Monday, police asked prosecutors to seek arrest warrants for three protesters for violence in recent rallies, said an officer at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency without giving his name, citing office policy.

Earlier in the day, a South Korean man died two weeks after setting himself on fire during a rally, according to Hangang Sacred Heart Hospital in Seoul.

Another protester set himself ablaze in a protest last week but his condition was not life-threatening, said Kim Tae-hyung, an official at a civic group that has organized demonstrations.

Comments

[bosd]

I am a Korean who lives in the States. At first, when I started reading about the stories, I thought it was just some trade dispute. Then I saw that people held a candle light vigiil. My first reaction was who died? Was there a catastrophic event that caused many deaths? Then i read more and it';s a protest on US beef imports. WTF?!?!?!?! LOL. Sorry but that's just me. I think there is a time and place for a candle light vigil and that was not it.

Now in all seriousness, the stuff I am hearing about happening in S. Korea is very alarming. I have family there who have told me that if they disagree with the sentiment, then they are labelled as traitors and can lose their job. I have heard that a news person or radio person commented on all the fuss over US beef imports and asked why not just label it and you don't have to buy the beef. I heard he lost his job.

Is this North Korea that I am hearing about?

[tinkaboutit]

They left out the backstory. Korea and the U.S. had signed an agreement that no U.S. beef shipments would include spine or brain parts. The U.S. promptly ignored the agreement. The resumed shipments were discovered to include the banned parts. Korea immediately banned U.S. beef imports again. Now the U.S. has apparently found a way to force the new president to force it onto the people. But unlike america, Korean people aren't afraid to demonstrate.

[bosd]

can u post any stories/articles pointing that out please?

[bosd]

As for the American people being afraid to demonstrate - obviously you don't know what you are talking about. Do you know US history in the 1960's? You really disqualify your post with making such a blatently wrong statement.

But why the candle light vigil? Did someone die? Did a catastrophic event happen?

[aristippe]

yes, someone in Korea actual lit himself of fire and died as part of the protest. Protest in Korea is hardcore, not like wimpy America. 60's are gone gone gone.

[sa]

koreans are great people -
i am presently among them.
their work ethic and education is epic.
they have fierce national pride.
i believe they resent american influence -
they want to break away.

but kim jong il is a cagey bastard,
and could pull some crazy shit.
korea needs america
and they resent that dependency.

it's an imperfect truth.

they sort of hate their new president,
and want to immulate america's hatred of bush -
western influence is strong.
but while americans Really hate bush,
koreans only symbolically hate their president, as he imbodies
the bush spirit. (secretly, they are immulating america's scene).

but the blowback from president lee is real.
it is the people rising up against a corrupt capitalistic regime before it starts -
it is good.

bush and all his immulators should be nipped in the bud.
cut down facism before it rises to iraq. before it rises to its facist fulcrum.
cut these bastards down before the get a chance.

these are not humble people.
the power dynamic is such that
once you defeat your opponents,
the only thing left is other nations.
in short, it's a macheavellian affair.

after defeating your opponents,
you go on to conquer other countries,
and after that is all done,
the only thing left is to conquer the world -
and by that, kill it.

power kills the world.

good luck people of earth.

[bosd]

sa:

I hear people cannot talk freely abuot the US beef import issue unless they side with the peopel who are . This is coming from family members who are in Korea. How is that not facsism and yet you call the US fascist?

Do Koreans actually have a different genetic make-up that makes them more suseptible to mad cow disease? That's news to me, yet I heard a radio station has started that rumor and of course, there are stupid people in Korea, just like there are stupid people in the rest of the world, who believed it.

[bosd]

contunuing my post:

I am also hearing that there are an increasingly number in the younger generations who do not seem to know correct history. From what I am hearing, students are being taught that the ills that N. Korea is facing at the moment is due to the US Intervention in the Korean War and that because MacAurthor tried to push up all the way to China, it thus created a North/South Korea once the Chinese pushed back the US-led UN force.

Ummm, if this actually true that this being taught to kids in Korea, that is very alarming. I find it scary that it hasn;t been even 100 years since Kim Il Sung's army more or less swept down into all of S. Korea. You know, if it was not for US aid, there would be no North/South Korea. It would be Korea alright, but look at the conditions in N. Korea right now. If that is how peopel wnat to live, why not just go N. Korea and live there?

If that is true, then it's like that Iranian president saying the holocaust never happened.

[FearlessFraz]

Love your poetry! Do you mean emulate??

[Amalek]

Can't quite understand why proper labeling is not the solution to this issue. Just make sure it is labeled as US beef, and if people want to save money and take the risk they can buy that, or pay the premium and get grass fed Australian or New Zealand beef.

I pay the premium.

[Bub]

One the one hand:
Korean agricultural policy is an anachronism. It designed to support large number of small holdings so it is highly protected. This makes sense for when the nation was undeveloped, but now it produces more cars and steel than any wester European nation except Germany. As a result many, if not most, basic agricultural goods cost 400% over the international rate. Thats right: a bowl of rice that cost $0.25 cost over $1.00 in Korea. Cherries right now are going for 15 to 22 cents A CHERRY!

On top of that, the number of farmers is rapidly decreasing. Most Koreans no longer want to be farmers. In Yeong Cheon, a farming area, last year, the NY Times reported that the city of Yeong Cheon sponsors a free bride trip to Vietnam to buy a wife - because Korean women won't marry a Korean farmer. So nobody really wants to be a farmer. Small farms are labor intensive an too small for machinery. In a sense Koreans don't practics agriculture, they practice horticulture.

Clearly Korea's agriculture sector is due for some rationalization of policy. The Korean farmer is not competitive in the global market place. Korean's don't want to be farmers. The policy drives up the cost of food and so is patently immoral. In essence Korea's agricultural policy is taking food out of poor peoples mouths so that they can put money into farmer's pockets. That's not just bad policy, it's immoral as well.

[Sorti]

You’d have to be crazy to eat American meat that came on the market while Bush is President; the South Koreans are not crazy!
THE FDA under Bush is a farce.
It’s good any time the people push their government to respond, I wish we Americans did that more often.

I’m a Vegan (for health reasons) so I hope my fellow Americans eat all the beef they can get; I look forward to easier parking after you are gone.

Also fixing the environmental damages will be easier when more of you cow eaters are gone! Eat up America you won’t be missed!

Remember Jesus loves when you eat a cow, have two!

[MalloMel]

Seriously, does anyone know whether or not Jesus was a Vegan?

[ajclowder]

Of course, after you car drivers finish destroying the planet, there'll be nobody alive to park your precious, planet killing cars.

[watchingthings]

If this is all Koreans have to worry about....I'd say they have nothing to "beef" about.