FPIF Special Feature |
Postcard from … Seoul
Wol-san Liem | January 24, 2007
Editor: John Feffer, IRC
|
|
|
|
|
| Mad cow disease beef: No! Korea-U.S. FTA: No! Photo by Wol-san Liem |
Since March 2006, the United States and South Korea have been straining to complete the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Both governments claim it will yield more jobs and cheaper goods, but South Koreans are highly suspicious.
Half the South Korean population is against the FTA, especially workers and farmers who have seen trade agreements like NAFTA lead to job flight, decaying rural communities, and increased social polarization. But what really unites Koreans against the FTA is the undemocratic nature of the negotiations process and the threat to Korea's national sovereignty.
As the FTA talks recently entered their sixth round, protests in the capital Seoul have been intense. Despite a government ban, thousands took to the streets to demonstrate for an entire week.
Many of the protestors donned cow costumes to protest a key provision of the proposed agreement: increased U.S. beef exports to the Korean market.
Beef has been central to Korean disdain for the FTA. The issue here has been less about protecting Korean cattle ranchers than preserving public health regulations and the democratic rights of Korean citizens. Korea, like Japan, banned American beef three years ago after an outbreak of mad cow disease in the United States. In order to re-open the Korean market to U.S. beef, the Bush administration made lifting the ban a precondition to even beginning trade talks. Korea conceded, allowing boneless meat imports. Since that time, however, it has returned three beef shipments containing bone fragments. The U.S. beef industry, backed by influential members of Congress, reacted by demanding that Korea's market be fully re-opened before talks end.
Korean opposition is widespread, even among housewives. According to Yonhap News, a recent survey found that over 70% of Korean housewives don't want to buy American beef. The Korean public believes that because of lax U.S. regulations, diseased meat will make its way onto their tables. American officials say Koreans are overreacting, but Koreans say that only a small percentage of U.S. farms and meat are inspected.
Despite public protest, trade representatives from both sides met secretly in Washington to reach a “technical solution.” Beef industry leaders have called the proposal “encouraging.” But it still calls on Korea to lower its standards for accepting American beef.
Government officials have been calling the FTA an opportunity to strengthen the U.S.-Korea alliance, which has weakened during the Bush and Roh administrations. The FTA may indeed strengthen ties—between big businesses. The cost will be heightened anti-American sentiment among South Koreans who see the FTA as an affront to their public health, democracy, and national sovereignty.
Wol-san Liem is a doctoral candidate in history at New York University and a member of Korean Americans for Fair Trade.
|
|
|
|
Published by Foreign Policy In Focus (FPIF), a project of the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS, online at www.ips-dc.org). Copyright © 2009, Institute for Policy Studies.
Recommended citation:
Wol-san Liem, "Postcard from … Seoul" (Silver City, NM and Washington, DC: Foreign Policy In Focus, January 24, 2007).
Web location:
http://fpif.org/fpiftxt/3940
Production Information:
Author(s): Wol-san Liem
Editor(s): John Feffer, IRC
Production: Chellee Chase-Saiz, IRC |
|
Latest Comments & Conversation Area
Editor's Note: FPIF.org editors read and approve each comment.
Comments are checked for content only; spelling and grammar errors are not
corrected and comments that include vulgar language or libelous content are
rejected. |
| |
| Name: |
Terry S. Singeltary Sr. |
Date: Jan 26, 2007 |
Dear Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
My name in Seoungwon Lee and I work for National Assemblywoman (MP) Sang-Jeong Sim, in South Korea. Below is a message from Mr. Kwon. Please get back to us regarding the letter.
Thank you.
Seoungwon Lee
Legislative Assistant
National Assembly
Republic of Korea
Dear Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
Greetings from Korea.
I have learned about what you and your family have been through a internet. Being the father of a small family, I can only imagine the sense of loss that you and your family still must feel regarding your mother.
Through the internet, many people here in Korea have learnt about the story of your family and it has created a great deal of concern. Your experience had particular relevance for the citizens here, for the Korean government, in connection to the free trade agreement it is negotiating with the United States, is about to restart the sale of the unsafe American beef to the general public.
The Korean government has already imported the first load American beef and is currently going through the inspection period. There has been a great deal of controversy regarding the safety of these products, and a precipitous increase in public interest regarding the causes and symptoms of vCJD.
It is in this context that we are preparing a session together with National Assembly members and relevant NGOs to hear from those who have had direct experience with the human variant of BSE. We are very interested in hearing about the symptoms that your mother showed, your views on the response from the US government to the many deaths that resulted from this disease, the reaction from the general public, and any other area that you would wish to speak about. There would also be experts and academics in the area to speak at the session as well. We believe that it would greatly contribute to raising awareness about the issue, as well as help politicians and civic activists to consider the repercussions of the beef import issue.
We would like to request your help in this regard. We are planning for the session to be held in Seoul on the 23rd of this November. We would very much like to have you present in order to help prevent such tragic incidents from happening in Korea. We would, of course, pay for the trip and accommodations for the duration of your stay. If you were to participate, we could also meet with members from the agricultural committee of the National Assembly and from other related organizations to urge more interest to the issue.
Please do not hesitate to offer suggestions or ask us any questions that you might have. We look forward to a positive response and to meeting you in Seoul.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Sim Sang-Jeong
Head of the Democratic Labor Party Parliamentary Committee on the Korea-US
FTA
Member of the National Assembly
Republic of Korea |
|
| Name: |
john anderson |
Date: Jan 30, 2007 |
| It is time for the US to leave south korea and let them face the Kim regime by themselves. |
|
| Name: |
Terry S. Singeltary Sr. |
Date: May 03, 2007 |
| Subject: South Korea's Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to OIE "U.S. beef still unsafe due to mad cow disease" Date: May 3, 2007 at 12:52 pm PST
Beef News
South Korea: U.S. beef still unsafe
By John Gregerson on 5/3/2007 for Meatingplace.com
Asian news sources are reporting that South Korea's Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has sent the World Organization for Animal Health a written opinion indicating U.S. cattle are at risk for bovine spongiform encephalopathy. The correspondence was dated April 9, just a week after Seoul and Washington successfully concluded a free-trade agreement.
Among Korea's complaints: The United States doesn't have an effective system to trace BSE-infected cattle or routes of infection. The Ministry also argues that specified risk materials used to feed non-ruminant animals could result in cross-contamination of cattle.
http://www.meatingplace.com/
http://www.cattlenetwork.com/content.asp?contentid=126942
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3940
The S. Korean Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is very much correct.
Sadly, the OIE will do nothing about it. The USA has already a favorable rating signed, sealed, and as good as the old 'gold card' they use to have, that was the rating of not having a BSE case, then they changed from going by sound science to junk science i.e. 'God save the industry at all cost', thus, the BSE MRR policy was born. ...TSS
TSS
|
|
| Discussion for this article has been closed. |
| |
Contact FPIF's webmaster with inquiries regarding the functionality of this website.
Copyright © 2009, Institute for Policy Studies.
|
|
|
|
