Just What We Feared   2008-06-17 06:25

It was found yesterday that a large discount store in Incheon have been secretly selling U.S. beef to consumers. The frozen beef, imported almost a year ago, was being marketed as Australian beef. According to MBC News, no safeguards are in place to prevent the consumers from being deceived like this, as it is incredibly difficult to tell where the beef came from just by looking at it. This is exactly what the Korean People have feared. The government says that anyone who doesn't want to buy U.S. beef can choose otherwise, and that therefore there's nothing wrong with importing U.S. beef only for those who want to buy it. But in a system where any merchant can lie about the origin of the beef it sells and get away with it, there's absolutely no reason for the People to take the government's word.

This might be a good place to give a brief summary of what this issue is all about, for those of you who learned only recently about the current turmoil in Korea. It all began with U.S. beef, though now the issue of beef is just one of the many problems we're protesting against.

As you may already have read from either this blog or elsewhere, the Korean People are seriously concerned about the safety of American foodstuff. We are concerned that big business has too much control over food inspections in the U.S., and in particular, over the inspection of beef (though genetically modified crops are also a concern for a lot of us). This isn't a particularly Korean hysteria; Europeans have long expressed similar concerns, and a number of Americans have also written extensively about food safety (or lack thereof) in the U.S. Do a little bit of research and you'll find a lot of information on BSE and other food safety issues in the U.S. This article would make a good starter, but make sure also to read dissenting opinions. Also see this book and this book. Some theorists also say that mad-cow disease has something to do with the 9,000% increase in Alzheimer's disease in the U.S. during the last two decades. What does this mean? If some people still want to eat U.S. beef, fine; but whoever doesn't want to eat it should be absolutely entitled to avoid it. But in a system like what we have now, no one can choose what kind of beef they eat. Who knows where the local diner buys its beef? Who knows if the labels actually tell the truth? Currently in Korea, a merchant who lies about the origin of food he sells can be convicted to a sentence of up to 7 years; but this law is extremely difficult to enforce -- simply because it's scientifically impossible to verify the origin of beef in, say, your average bowl of beef stew.

But our government, as we reported in all of our other posts, has refused to take any measures to help us feel safe. In fact, the only thing President Lee's government has done so far is to raise all regulations on the import of U.S. beef, so that virtually any kind of beef and other cattle parts -- including parts that are known to carry a higher risk of BSE -- can be freely imported. We protested against this policy, and the government responded with violence and censorship, calling our protests illegal. When almost 1,000,000 citizens gathered in a single night to demand a solution, the government built a steel wall between the protesters and the President -- lest anyone had doubts about President Lee's determination not to give a damn about public opinion. Even after two months, the government's position is that regulation of beef trade is the business of the private sector and that therefore the government has no role to play. Doesn't it understand that the reason we're protesting is because the private sector has demonstrably failed to regulate itself, like in the case that was exposed yesterday?

Meanwhile, several of President Lee's personal agenda are being carried out at an alarming rate. Today, the government is expected to announce its plans for the privatization of health care, in a move towards something like the U.S. system. In case you haven't seen the movie Sicko, the United States is the only country in the developed world currently without universal health care. Why on earth does the Korean government want to copy the U.S. policy? There was a time (several decades ago) when Korea did well to take the U.S. as a model. But now is not that time. America has its share of problems just like any other country. Yeah, we all know that Lee Myung-Bak gets along well with George W. Bush; Lee even drove Bush's golf cart in Camp David last April. But that doesn't mean that Korea should copy the U.S. in everything it does. We're not the 51st, 52nd, or 53rd state of America. We are a sovereign nation, and this sovereignty belongs to us, the People. And we aren't going to tolerate a government that gambles with our health and security.

Naeil Newspaper conducted a survey this week, and guess what? Only 7-12% of the Korean People, and only 3.1% of Seoulites, now support President Lee. 88% are calling for a renegotiation of the beef deal with the U.S., and 52% won't accept a policy of self-regulation by the private sector. (This is interesting, because the other 48% are presumably more conservative and/or pro-deregulation, and yet a vast majority of them still oppose the government's current policy. When your own health and security are at stake, ideologies take a back seat.) 71% support the candlelight protests, and 58% think that there's no way President Lee will take good care of the economy. No other President in our history has recorded such a dismal rate of support. How on earth did Lee Myung-Bak manage to rake in 49% of the popular vote in last December's election?

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