Updates for June 24   2008-06-24 11:50

The unrest over the import of U.S. beef continues as before, even though the Korean government has reached an agreement with the U.S. which it says will effectively block the import of beef and beef products from cattle over 30 months old. As we mentioned in a number of other posts, there are a few major problems with the new agreement. First of all, the promised measures are only temporary. The original agreement of April 18 still stands, and the new one is nothing but a temporary ("transitional" in the words of the U.S. government) and voluntary agreement among beef traders. Many People in Korea are worried that this arrangement just isn't secure enough. Second, there's no way to verify the age of cattle from which a particular cut of beef was made. This makes violations of the agreement virtually impossible to detect. Third, a few "specified risk materials" (SRM) have been banned, such as brains, eyes, and spinal cords. But nobody eats cow brains and eyes. On the other hand, the parts that Koreans do use in their recipes, such as bones and intestines, are still permitted even though experts point out that these parts carry a higher risk of BSE than regular meat. (The distal ileum -- the last 50cm of the small intestine -- is banned due to its very high risk of BSE, but it's nearly impossible to tell if this part has been properly removed from a shipment of cattle intestines.)

A meat shop in Korea displays the list of beef and pork cuts on sale, together with the country of origin for each product. Currently in Korea, domestic and Australian beef command the majority of the market. U.S. beef has been banned since 2003 when the first case of BSE was discovered there. Before the ban, Korea used to import nearly $1 billion of U.S. beef every year, making it the third largest overseas market for U.S. beef.

Meanwhile, news has reached us that a case of BSE has been found today in British Columbia, Canada. Since 2003, Canada has reported 13 cases of BSE, most of them in cows over 60 months old. (This one was 66 months old, and the Canadian government made sure that none of it becomes available for human consumption even indirectly.) The United States, on the other hand, has reported 3 cases since 2003, leading Americans to believe that Canadian beef is more dangerous than U.S. beef. Accordingly, consumer groups in the U.S. have been trying to get their government to install tougher restrictions on the import of Canadian cattle and beef. The curious thing is that Canada has in place a nearly identical set of anti-BSE regulations as the U.S. does, if not more stringent. Both countries banned animal-based cattle feed in 1997, and last year Canada also introduced a ban on the use of cattle SRM in a whole range of other products, not just in cattle feed. In addition, a lot of beef and beef products, not to mention live cows, cross the U.S.-Canada border every day. The two economies are very closely related. Why, then, does Canada report a significantly higher number of BSE cases than the U.S. does, even though Canada has many times fewer cows than the U.S. has? I mean, what makes U.S. beef "safe" when both Americans and Koreans think that Canadian beef isn't? (Note: Korea has no plans to import Canadian beef.) Given what we know about anti-BSE regulations in both countries, the reasonable conclusion is that U.S. beef isn't any safer than Canadian beef. They're both similarly susceptible to BSE. Still wondering why Koreans are so upset about U.S. beef? Go ask your own all-American consumer groups what they think about Canadian beef.

Despite all this, the Korean government seems to be in the mood to permit the full-scale import of U.S. beef as early as this week, without announcing exactly what was agreed upon in its latest talks with the U.S. (The Korean news report can be found here.) As a result, little is known about the new agreement other than that it introduces a few vague, temporary, and voluntary restrictions such as the ones discussed above. Why is our government unwilling to let its People know what it's going to do in a couple of days? The only answer we can think of is: because the government knows that the People won't like it. So what the heck is the government hiding from us? A back-door agreement with U.S. beef producers to turn a blind eye to violations of newly introduced regulations? (See the last picture in this post. Nobody would be surprised if there was a back-door deal!)

Protests continue as usual. Thousands gather in the evening with candles in their hands; and during the day, a few hundred activists and volunteers keep vigil. Demonstrators can be found 24/7 in Seoul Plaza, Yeouido, and a few other locations. In the meantime, pro-government groups have also begun to stage counter-demonstrations, as we reported in several occasions. An alarming feature of these groups is that they are becoming increasingly violent. Yesterday, at least two anti-government protesters (one man and one woman) were badly beaten up by pro-government demonstrators in Yeouido and subsequently hospitalized. Pro-government groups even brought a truckload of wooden bars (see picture below), some of which were employed in the beatings. Anti-government groups found the truck and handed over to the police, but it is unclear if any of the violent folks will be prosecuted -- as none of those who got involved in the beatings was even arrested. That's right, you can beat up a woman and get away with it if you're a member of a pro-government group. So much for the rule of law.

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