By I know everyone is tired of hearing about this but it looks like the US beef issue has been solved temporarily:
South Korea and the United States Thursday concluded week-long talks to address concerns over the safety of U.S. beef shipments, which have rocked the world’s former third biggest U.S. beef importer since early May amid public concerns over mad cow disease. (…)
South Korean and U.S. officials have said for the past week they were discussing technical issues on ensuring shipments of beef from cattle less than 30 months old.
The U.S. beef industry has volunteered to label beef for up to 120 days to show the age of cattle slaughtered with the aim of easing concerns over mad cow disease.
South Korea wants the U.S. to guarantee the labeling for the time being through issuance of certificates under the export verification program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but the U.S. has resisted, fearing any excessive government involvement may encroach upon World Trade Organization regulations supporting free trade, according to officials and industry sources here.
Washington’s concern is that any significant compromise might undermine its future negotiations with other countries, including Japan, which currently imports beef from cattle less than 20 months old.
The conclusion of the talks, which began last Friday, follows an apology to the nation in Seoul Thursday by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak for causing public concern over beef imports. [Yonhap]
Korean mob blocks traffic in downtown Seoul.
So basically the only thing that is going change from the original agreement though the original agreement has actually changed is that US beef producers will import beef less then 30 months old and label it for 120 days. This is a start, but what happens after 120 days? Will all hell break loose again? Who knows but later on in this Yonhap article I did find this passage to be of real interest:
The beef deal, signed on the eve of Lee’s Camp David summit with Bush, hurt the national pride of many South Koreans who denounced Lee for kowtowing to the world’s superpower, although Lee said the agreement was needed to help the U.S. Congress ratify a broader free trade deal. Lee has said the free trade agreement (FTA) is badly needed to revive the world’s 13th biggest economy, struggling from an economic slowdown affected by the skyrocketing prices of oil and other commodities.
This is just another example of what I have been saying for some time, the Korean public was unhappy with their new President Lee Myung-bak for a variety reasons, but the anti-US groups saw an opportunity to smash Lee over the beef issue and used their internet smear tactics along with the broadcast media to rile up the Korean public which naturally has an undertone of anti-Americanism. Just the fact that the Korean public could actually believe that the US government is out to poison and kill them with imported beef is a perfect example of how bad the underlying anti-Americanism is.
Compare this to China which is actually shipping in tainted food and how the Koreans back off from a trade war with them after both the Garlic War of 2000 and the Kimchi Crisis of 2005. There was no mass protests out on the streets then complaining about food safety or students holding signs saying they want to live. Better yet is the recent violence committed by Chinese embassy backed students that attacked and beat Koreans on the streets of their own capitol city and got away with it. Where were the protests after that? Imagine what the response would be if the US embassy backed every American student in Korea to walk through the streets of Seoul to assault and beat Koreans, what do people think the response to that would be?
Chinese students assault Koreans in Seoul.
So basically this all helps explain why the Korean public is pissed at Lee because he is blatantly pro-US. They want a leader that will do what’s best for the country, but at least give the appearance of not being an American lackey like former President Roh Moo-hyun did. The anti-US groups understood this and used their smear tactics to politically neuter Lee. The anti-US groups are feeling confident that he is neutered so they are trying to advance their leftist agendas again that has been temporarily stopped by the election of Lee.
However, I think many in the Korean public are now realizing that they have been frauded by the anti-US groups and don’t want to take part in the other leftist agendas the anti-US groups are trying to promote. I think the public is also slowly realizing that US beef is actually safer then Korean beef, but they still expect their president to at least give the appearance of not being a US lackey and renegotiate the beef deal anyway. To do otherwise would hurt “Korean Pride”, which in the case of China doesn’t matter.
11:17 pm on June 21st, 2008 1
Funny how when 50,000-100,000-700,000 anti American protesters fill the streets of Korea, Choe Sung Hun is silent as a church mouse. But once an agreement is met, he starts spinning the story as one of democracy. The latest spin of this korean propaganist is that all the protests due to the amazing “techo korea”.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/16/technology/protest.php
Spin spin spin….
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6:02 am on June 22nd, 2008 2
[...] I read news articles like this AP story currently on the front page of Yahoo and the International Herald Tribune’s Choe Sang-hun’s latest article and just continued to be amazed how the majority of the mainstream media writers continue to miss the real point of the US beef protests. This is not about trade or food safety. [...]
6:04 am on June 22nd, 2008 3
Thanks for the link. Choe’s article was pretty bad and missing the point of the larger reasons for the protests. I’m sure Choe knows the beef protests are organized by the anti-US groups and he did not include one mention of this in the article.
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9:52 am on June 24th, 2008 4
I’m past the point where I no longer wish to debate the issue. Once the anti-US crowd gets in a frenzy, reason gets thrown out the window. Fine, don’t bring US beef into the country. But don’t complain to me when little Soon-ni and Yoon-suk get sick from eating all the cheap Chinese-made foodstuffs that’s ALREADY in Korea.
As an American kyopo living in Australia, I’ve tried both Hanwoo and Aussie beef. Compared to US beef, I’ll take US beef any day of the week. Aussie beef is not bad, but a good cut will cost you $15 a kg. Besides, there’s hardly any marbling. Every Aussie I’ve met admitted that US beef was better. Oh well.
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11:06 am on June 24th, 2008 5
“Thanks for the link.”
You bet GI Korea. I am always happy to do my part to help your readers understand Korean people. Regular commenter Sonagi wrote about the same thing on the Korean blog “marmot hole”. No HT
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11:09 am on June 29th, 2008 6
[...] most of the Korean public abandoned the movement when Korean President Lee Myung-bak implemented new US beef import regulations that seems to have largely addressed public fears of being killed by US [...]
12:49 am on July 4th, 2008 7
Again, I realize that your blog is full of misinformation, prejudice, and maybe presecution complex. In the Chinese violence event, many Korean people were upset and criticized the government. Some netizen uploaded the list of the representatives of Chinese students with cell phone numbers and the stuents got numerous phone calls, although I don’t like this kind of bully using internet. The Korean government also responded and called on the Chinese ambassador. Some Chinese students at the event were detained after Korean police’s chase. Chinese government apologized and petitioned weak punishment of the students. I don’t think this leaves the cause of big protests.
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1:29 am on July 4th, 2008 8
Kimmy you should treat your old master with more respect. Remember, China can do as she pleases in Korea, and Koreans must like it and say thank you.
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5:09 am on July 4th, 2008 9
kimmy what misinformation? If you are going to make accusations at least provide an example?
For you information the Chinese embassy didn’t apologize, they expressed “sympathy” and then went on to justify the rioters’ actions:
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200804/200804300010.html
Plus the Korean government took no legal action against the Chinese student rioters:
http://rokdrop.com/2008/05/03/charges-dropped-against-rioting-chinese-student/
Also if 5,000 Americans that were paid and sponsored by the US embassy to walk the streets of Seoul and assault Koreans with poles what do you think the response would be? You know as well as I do that the response would be huge anti-American protests with the rioters being jailed.
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5:46 am on July 4th, 2008 10
We will likely get a chance to see Kimmy’s ideas put to the test when this foreigner protest happens this weekend.
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8:20 am on July 4th, 2008 11
“Also if 5,000 Americans that were paid and sponsored by the US embassy to walk the streets of Seoul and assault Koreans with poles what do you think the response would be? You know as well as I do that the response would be huge anti-American protests with the rioters being jailed.”
The Korean government has been payiing former whores that are now too old to turn tricks to protest in front of the Japanese embassy for years.
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10:07 pm on September 26th, 2008 12
[...] this will turn into a major issue with the Korean public. It seems appeasing China in regards to the economy, human rights, and even law and order in Seoul has been a South Korean governmental policy for many [...]
4:48 am on October 9th, 2008 13
[...] Vehicle Title … freshmsdesh.cn/kodezathesims2.html • Found on Yahoo! Search Will New US Beef Import Regulations Hurt ?Korean Pride?? Jun 21, 2008 … Lee Myung-bak for causing public concern over beef imports. …. But don?t [...]