I recommend everyone read this interview with Korean political analyst Lee Jung-hoon that pretty well sums up the issue of the protests against US beef in Korea. Here is an excerpt:
The Korean government has put into place rather stringent measures to check all the beef imports, but would you say that this is enough to silence all the opponents?
LJH: I think the government is fully aware of the public concern and I think it is doing everything it can to allay fears. Now, I think that’s sufficient for a significant majority of the public but there will always be a minority few who may have a very large voice for whom that no matter what the government does, it’s never going to be enough because we have to keep in mind that quite a number of those opponents are not really focused on the beef issue per se but rather they are using the beef issue to attack the government and bring down the government. So there is a strong political agenda to the hardcore opponents. [Radio Singapore]
The ROK Drop has of course been following the activities of the anti-government groups which you can read more about here and here as well as providing indepth recommendations on how to deal with them here and here as well.
Popularity: 3%
:mrgreen:...
11:21 am on August 2nd, 2008 1
The link doesn’t work on the article.
1:27 pm on August 2nd, 2008 2
What’s with the promiscuous “anti-Government” meme?
These Koreans don’t want to bring down government.
They want to BE government.
Haven’t you learned about Korea’s notorious factionalism.
There are even Korean “centrists” playing both sides. Analyze that!
2:55 pm on August 2nd, 2008 3
I, too, hope this link can be fixed. I Googled the text in the above quote but it didn’t turn up any hits to the original Web site. Perhaps it has been taken down? Did some fanatical protesters fly to Singapore and throw doggie doodoo at their offices?
2:40 am on August 3rd, 2008 4
Probably.