The hypocrisy of the US beef scaremongering in Korea is incredible:
The impending resumption of imports of U.S. beef has spawned a proliferation of rumors on the Internet about the perils of mad cow disease, amplifying confusion and fears among consumers. This was not helped by the airing of an edition of “PD Diary”, the famous MBC current affairs program, on Tuesday, which claimed that 94 percent of Koreans have genes that make them more susceptible than Americans or Britons to Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), which is the human variant of mad cow disease, and this physical trait makes Koreans two to three times more likely than Americans or Britons to contract the disease. (…)
Even madly unscientific rumors like, “Jelly, cookies, a broiled dish of sliced rice pasta and pizza will cause mad cow disease,” or, “Cosmetic products, sanitary napkins, and diapers are also risky because parts of cattle are used in production,” exhorting consumers to hoard such items before the imports, are spreading on the Internet. [Chosun Ilbo]
I say the hypocrisy of this is incredible because the amount of blackmarket US beef already being eaten in Korea is enormous. All this is about the Korean beef farmers not wanting to compete in an open market and be able to rip off the Korean public with overpriced beef. They are using the typical Korean leftist groups to turn the US beef issue into an anti-American issue.
They began this process of turning it into an anti-US issue by holding a candlelight rally in downtown Seoul in order to rekindle memories of the candlelight ceremonies after the 2002 Armored Vehicle Accident.
Anti-US beef protest in Seoul
However I don’t think the leftists attempt to rekindle the memories of 2002 is going to be successful considering how many of the leftists leaders have been linked to a North Korean spy scandal along with the public so concerned about high food costs.
It is also a tad bit interesting that 10,000 people show up to protest the US but no massive protest has happened in Korea yet over the Chinese riot and beatdown of Koreans citizens in downtown Seoul.
Popularity: 6%
My StumbleUpon Page
I also think this is all a bunch of hooey but it’s already being ingrained into mainstream Koreans and not just the lefties. Trying to convince thousands of Koreans that the issue is FTA-based and not about mad cow is a hard sell thanks to the Korean MSM. The Japanese MSM did the same years back in order to protect their beef industry. In any case, I recently saw a Korean documentary (SBS) on US slaughterhouses and the majority of people being interviewed were left-wing vegans and eco-health advocates. The way they were portrayed made it seem like they were mainstream Americans. They also had Howard Lyman, the guy who convinced Oprah to give up beef, as a predominant source throughout the documentary. Very few on the industry side were interviewed and Michael Moore-style ambush tactics were used. This probably explains why no one wanted to talk to the Korean “reporters”.
In regards to US beef, my wife and many Koreans have been told that the US market only consumes beef from 20 month-old cows. One of the bones (no pun) of contention regarding this issue is that the Korean market will be getting beef from 30 month-old cows. Supposedly the older the cow is, the greater the risk of mad cow. This explains why you don’t see Americans and kyopos acting all goofy from mad cow in the States. This also explains the rationale that the beef sold at the PX/BX is from 20 month-old cows. If I’m not mistaken, the FDA prohibited the slaughter of 30 month-old cows and using processed feed since 1997. Where the Korean media is getting this and why the AmCham is not fighting this is beyond me. In any case, since beef from 30 month-old cows will be cheaper, the protestors claim Korean food industries will purchase the beef for use in processed food products such as ramen and snacks. Thus infecting the masses and turning the Korean population into something out of “I Am Legend”.
With all the protests and gripes about US beef, I have brought up the point that Chinese food products have been imported into the Korean market with dubious health ratings but no demonstrations. Chinese kimchi for instance, was tested and contained parasites. Here in Australia, Chinese seafood was tested and contained antibiotics. The response from the Korean street? No one died yet from eating Chinese food.
Of course, I suspect no one will die from eating US beef either.
Maybe I’m wrong but I think the Korean public has learned a lot about their own media and the leftist movement during the five years of the Roh administration.
I recall Brendon Carr or perhaps someone else complaining at TMH about how Am-Cham no longer advocates effectively on behalf of US businesses since a certain person took over.
Just go to any E-Mart or Lotte Mart and read all the labels on ground chili pepper, frozen mandu, cookies, and processed food products. A vast majority of these products are made in China but labeled under a Korean firm. My family refuses to buy any food product made in China due to the dubious health standards. This makes shopping a bit longer and sometimes expensive, but I believe worth the price. But the real point of this is that buying Chinese, Korean, & US-made products all comes down to choice. If Koreans don’t want to buy Chinese gochu-garu or US short ribs, they don’t have to. No one is forcing Koreans to buy them, but they at least will have the option.
I hope I’m wrong as well and this will all blow over. However, when Koreans tell me not to believe the Chosun or Dong-A Ilbo because they’re poodles for LMB, it gives me some concern. Mind you, these are the same Koreans who asked me to buy them rice at the BX because the local rice was way too expensive.
Interesting that PD diary points out that Korean genes are defective. I have known this for years. Why don’t they just eat kimuchi to cure mad cow disease?
I hope Koreans can read through the BS and see they are being manipulated…besides, how can you fight import of beef from one of your MAJOR export recipients??
Nice report GI and keep up the good work.
The good news is that with each event like this, it helps open the eyes of American of what Koreans think of them.
The bad news is that there are numerous “fifth columnists” Koreans working behind the scenes to undermine America. These people are knows as “Kyopos”.
I have more time on my hands with a month off from college before summer courses begin and just a few weeks left teaching at high school here in Georgia. I will be able to go back over the Korean media now and back to where the beef ban (legitimately) began.
I’ll also start looking around the anti-US sites.
One thing I can tell from afar —- the size of the protest let’s me know the issue has some depth in mainstream Korean society. How much depth isn’t clear, but it is big enough to tell some average Koreans were pulled in and that the groups thought the issue would sell well among the masses.
My initial feeling on the media coverage of the beef issue and the protest is that we very well might be returning to pre-2002/2003 habits.
I’m not sure the press would have covered the beef issue the same way last year with Roh in the presidency and the election still undecided.
Nor am I sure that the recent protest would have nearly been as big.
On another note, the Korean exchange student in my high school ESOL class said today that Koreans were all going to die due to American beef.
She has been upset because her host family, the mother of which teaches art at the school, refuses to take her shopping at the outlet mall.
I’ve had to explain to the host mother that all Korean students are not like this one — who makes lazy American students look somewhat like go-getters. Really. She fit right in with the lazy crowd, and she is also rude — on par with the worst of the regular American students.
That is why she isn’t being ferried to the outlet mall.
She tried to talk me into taking her, but I avoided the subject.
At which point she paused a few minutes and then made her American beef comment….
[…] figured it was only a matter of time before the Korean-American community weighed in on the current US beef nonsense going on in […]
Here’s the crux of it; in America there have been a mere three sick cows. The first sick cow spent the first four years of its six-year life in CANADA, where it apparently contracted the BSE strain that you see in other cases in Canada and Europe that arose from cannibalism. The second cow came from Texas, was an ancient 12-years-old (very unlikely for human food, most cows eaten are about 2-years-old). The third cow came from Alabama, and was estimated at an inedible 10-years-old.
According to Scientific American, those last two American born-and-raised cows were shown to have a strain of BSE that is unlike the cannibalistic strain. It is believed that, as humans contract prion diseases at a rate of 1:1,000,000 spontaneously, and that other animals like sheep also contract prion dieases such as “scrapie” spontaneously, that cows might be contracting BSE the same way. Scientists believe the Texas and Alabama cows contracted their BSE spontaneously! That means that all cows, all over the world, even in Korea, could spontaneously contract mad cow disease.
According to the CDC, three people in the U.S. have come down with the human variant of the disease, vCJD–all of them foreigners! The first two were originally U.K. citizens and it is believed that they contracted the disease from U.K. beef. The third was from Saudi Arabia and it is also believed he too contracted the disease from beef in his home country.
So, we’ve got two sick cows that possibly became ill spontaneously, out of 35 million cows slaughtered annually. We all know that the USFDA doesn’t test every single cow like they do in Japan, but they test enough of them to give a very reliable sample of the population. Based on the number of sick animals found, the OiE says that in 2006 the incidence of sick cows was one in 41,666,667; statistically insignificant.
Finally, in the U.K., where 97.5% of all mad cow cases have been discovered, and where 84.5+% of all vCJD cases have arisen, there has been a continual decrease in sick cows. From a height of 37,280 sick cows in 1992, to just 10 so far in 2008. Cases of vCJD are also on the decline, with a peak of 28 deaths in 2000, five deaths last year, and currently zero deaths this year (though three people are known to be sick).
Mad cow is old news. The epidemic is over, and worrying about such a statistically insignificant problem is a waste of time. Stomach cancer is a much bigger problem in Korea, with 20 people dying every day from 1999 to 2003. And stomach cancer is thought to be prevalent here because of dietary choices (i.e. fermented foods high in nitrates, high salt consumption, low fresh vegetable and fruit consumption, and heavy drinking). Kimchi kills, not U.S. beef.
What do you do in Korea? Are you a teacher and who do you teach?
I’m preparing to write a review of this topic after it plays out over the next couple of weeks, but I’m not in Korea now, and since I’m not teaching Korean adults anymore, I can’t get as good a feel for the pulse of Korea as I could when I was listening to them daily. I could get a good feel when class after class would come in with the same talking points and class after class would exhibit the same mind-block.
What are you seeing on the ground now?
Well done Max. I need that bumper sticker.
“According to the CDC, three people in the U.S. have come down with the human variant of the disease, vCJD–all of them foreigners!”
Not exactly.
There is a rather tragic case of an American soldier who contracted CJD… although it is not clear how… meaning that American beef may not be to blame.
—http://www.valdezlink.com/pages/alford.htm
According to top Korean doctors and scientist Kimuchi will cure everything from the common cold to SARS. So I say just shove some kimuchi down their throats, and just to be nice. let them wash it down with crappy Korean Soju.
Now THAT would be funny.
She is staying (for the first 6 months) with the art teacher at my school, and at the beginning of the semester, since I had helped out the last Korean exchange student, and since my wife is Korean, I had expressed a willingness to drive her home from tennis practice when she was interested in that, and THANKFULLY that didn’t work out, because it only took my two weeks to find out what a spoiled brat the kid was going to be.
The news here has a way of manipulating people…not much different than the US news has in the past but Americans are getting better at ignoring it but not sometimes. I don’t think the overall population here really cares about this issue. Maybe 1-2%, similar to the ones who complain about USFK all the time…they are in the minority. Everytime my wife sees it on TV she changes the channel…her whole Korean family does the same.
On a lighter side…no Korean has ever complained about eating my meat and it is 100% pure USDA.
Max…you better get a patent on that saying…
“Kimchi kills, not U.S. beef.”
I want that as a sticker/shirt as well. Should make Cow sized shirts!
Have a great day!
You really need to be careful. At the elementary school where I teach, whenever a staff member gives a kid a lift, there is always a chaperone, either another staff member or another student.
Duuuude… that girl is toxic… exactly the kind of girl you NEVER WANT TO BE ALONE WITH without about 10 people to say what really happened… and counter whatever attention-getting-revenge-against-whatever-
imagined-slight-by-the-cruel-world blabber that comes out of her mouth.
Imagine the sympathy and attention she could get if the big beef-eating American “did something”. Why, it would overshadow any possible trouble she might be in for being a lazy, irritating and worthless waste of skin.
By “better ignoring” do you mean that Americans can make their own opinion and not follow the “hive”? Are you trying to say that Americans are smarter? or Koreans are dumber?
USinKorea has pointed out that even overseas Koreans do seem to follow the “hive” in their thinking.
USinKorea, you seem to understand Korea well, but in a way, are clueless about Korea. Did you ask your student why she thought that? Where she got her information? You should try to understand her thinking process.
You may be suprised about the ability of Koreans to think “around logic” in order to come to a predetermined conclusion.
I am not sure where Koreans get this ability, but the Chosun ilbo has pointed out that Korean have defective and inferior DNA.
And most of all, sticking it to me would just require too much activity in this girl’s head and take up too much of her time. She’d have to think and show initiative, and that would just be too fatiguing.
The same with having any kind of anti-US philosophy or any philosophy at all.
Everything is too boring.
And I mean EVERYTHING….
Lifting a finger is too bothersome as well….
I didn’t get into any discussion about the beef issue with her after she blurted something out about it in class as I was teaching. I was teaching at the time, but in general, I just don’t want to waste my time on her.
I am a little curious as to how she heard about the events in Korea going on now, but not enough to warrant engaging her on the topic.
I taught a fair amount of Korean students in Korea the 4 + years I was there, and this girl is atypical.
She is atypical for American students. She does fit a basic type here in America —- the lazy - ‘everything in life is boring (but me)’ type —- but that type is itself in the small minority of generally lazy American students.
If you’ve taught in Korea or know about Korean schools — the girl said one day in class to fellow students that in Korea, she would go after high school classes to an art hagwon for the rest of the afternoon.
That meant her parents did send her to the usual science, math, Korean, history, and other academic hagwons.
And to me, that meant her parents had given up on the idea that she would go to a “good” college.
Which most likely explains why they shipped her off to the US.
I am sure even the best teachers think and fuss about a student too much. I really hope all this is just a passing fancy about this girl.
I have heard the term “koreaphile” and I don’t think the term applies to you, but I am starting to worry.
usinkorea, if you would like to setup an email account to receive newspaper articles from Korea (translated into English) then I will send them to you. On 8 May 2008 there were no less than 10 articles in the 3-4 major papers here in Seoul. Let me know if you have specific questions and I will try and answer them. I could also send you individual topics based on your interests here.
Sound like you went and drank the Kool aid.. didnt you? You sound like Nixon and his “silent majority”
Here are videos of that 5%, look at the children with their Anti-American signs (I wish the US Congress would see that). BTW 5% protesting is alot. 5% of the USA is 15,000,000 people, and Japan its over six million people, and China would be.. well you get the picture.
hXXp://www.mongdori.com/forums/read.php?2,1293
Kids don’t drink the Korean Koolaid
I’m not offended, but your brain is working overtime here. The girl is in my class everyday - so - she is a recurrent pain in my neck, and I see her host mother in the halls all the time, and she frequently has another story to tell about the saga of having the girl in her home.
This is just usual teacher talk…
That would be GREAT!! Periodically, I’ve tried to get with someone to work rough translations on Korean media items — even offering to pay a little money from time to time — with no luck.
Send me anything you think is useful. usinkorea@hotmail.com
Check the English versions of the major newspapers first to see if they have already given a translation. I think they take many of their articles from the Korean version and translate them already.
I’m also particularly interested in the TV news. The 3 main networks in Korea are online and have video-on-demand. If you see a particularly noteworthy item to summarize, you could locate the video on the website and send me the link and I can grab the video and edit it adding subtitles.
When I was teaching Korean adults, I came up with the “water cooler” idea of one of the two definitions of what I call a “spike” in anti-US activity:
a spike can come in the form of “average Koreans” taking part in street demonstrations and the society uniting in active anti-US activity for a couple of weeks to months.
Or, a spike can come in the form of average Koreans spending a significant amount of time around the water cooler at their place of work bitching about how rotten the US is for Korea.
In both cases, the activity helps keep the foundation of anti-US thought solid and prepped for the larger explosions that come every few years.
Right now, we seem to be in at least the water cooler version of a spike: the number of press items out about the issue shows that.
I would tend to agree with your nationalist type views by Koreans. There seems to be a very small spike right now but really not that bad. I haven’t seen that much going on in Seoul other than that one Anti-US beef demonstration and the typical Friday outside the USFK/Yongsan protest which has been on-going for over 10-20 years. The news here has been motivated by the opposition party…they probably have a big influence on their stories. Nothing concrete but it seems to be a start of a spike. The current administration lost a lot of faith as soon as they also shunned the North as well. It is all starting to pile on at the moment.
Koreans have always been very nationalistic. When IMF hit here back in 1998, there were people bringing in their jewelry, gold, diamonds, and what not just to help pay the debt off! This wouldn’t happen in America these days I think. Too many Americans sit back and think, “Where is my free lunch from the government?” I think it is a huge change in the people of our country. This wasn’t the case about 40-60 years ago.
Also, I will take a close look at the articles I get translated and see if they are also in the English edition. If they are not I will email them to you. I read the paper and do them all the time.
Tell that Korean girl that the Dawsonville Outlet malls are a waste of her time…seems she doesn’t want to waste any at all and is lazy. That’s NOT the typical Korean.
Those were great videos. I really laughed. I thought the dynamite picture was really good. It is great to see that Koreans are also very good at over dramatization and not just Americans. That Cow video is from an American commercial if I remember correctly and the music sounds like something from work-out scenes on Rocky. Anyone else remember them?
Oh, and 5% of China is a lot of people too (150 million), but there would still be a paultry 2.85 billion people left not in the minority…but if they don’t say anything then it doesn’t matter. I would have to agree with usinkorea that some of those who don’t voice their opinion are silently supporting/rooting for the cause as well but awaiting for it to gain more support and become a bigger ’spike.’
Email: gikoreaonline -at- yahoo.com
I think so far the US beef nonsense is not really expanding much compared to past anti-US nonsense and will eventually blow over.
Shattered those videos were really funny.
…you do not get 2002s or 2000s without 1998 IM-Fs and 2008 CGWs.
I am convinced of the following: Before Pres. Roh and Donald Rumsfeld scared Korea straight, the habit for a long time was to have a spike in anti-US activity occur about once every 8 to 14 months. You generally had one a year — varying in size.
The ones people remember are the really big ones that included large protests with violence.
But, ones like the Cows Gone Wild Saga are key to the larger, more active, more violent periods:
By having something (often irrational) pop up about once a year, the anti-US habit becomes self-perpetuating.
What I mean is — especially the high school and middle schoolers who were targeted by the anti-US groups, but the society as a whole — will remember the CGW Saga for years to come, even if it stops right now today.
We just saw in the news today where Park whatsherface (Park Chung Hee’s daughter) came out putting pressure on President Lee and his hand-picked GNP leadership to renegociate the beef accord. That carries weight.
And the news blitz has already been enough, and of a certain tone, even with some (thankful) counter-notes against the anti-US trend, that the beef issue will remain in current memory for some years to come.
And of course, there are a long string of “anniversaries” strung out each year to also help Koreans remember who the real trouble making nation for South Korea is.
This is how even cadets in the military academies end up listing the US as the primary enemy of the nation.
I’ve always said — you have to do more than count heads at protests or the level of violence in the street.
The bulk of the work making that violence happen periodically is done in the classroom and newspaper, and these days over the internet as well.
hxxp://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/05/117_23917.html
People need to wake up. Remember how Korea promised to open her rice market. Well, has anybody seen foreign rice?
Koreans will say anyting to get the US-KOR-FTA, so they can dump more auto in the USA. Once the FTA is passed, korea will revert back to her protectionist ways.