AFF Sentinel Vol.5#27
A television pilot pitched to the networks with
the twists and surprises of South Korea's recent food and political wars would
have been rejected as surreal.
Consider:
- The first major initiative from a new South Korean
president is a beef agreement known as a precursor to U.S. approval of a
Free Trade Agreement (FTA) estimated to add $20 billion to current
U.S.-Korean $78 billion trade. He seeks to revive his economy by
facilitating FTA approval in both countries.
- Some South Korean teenagers blog false information
about the dangers of U.S. beef, Koreans' genetic predisposition to vCJD
and Americans refusal to eat American beef. Other students and the
teachers union spread the false information.
- The opposition political parties - upset at electoral
losses but still holding parliamentary seats for a couple weeks - seize
the opportunity to damage the ruling party's first initiative.
- The opposition parties and the students manage weeks of
street demonstrations with thousands of people (number estimates vary).
The demonstrators oppose the importation of U.S. beef and the opposition
party demands a total renegotiation of the beef agreement. The vehemence,
size and weeks of protests seem surreal to Americans and shock Korean
government.
- Stunned, the South Korean government temporarily
delayed the inspection of U.S. beef held long-term in quarantine, hoping
things will blow over. Both the U.S. and the South Korean administration
say the beef agreement will not be renegotiated. Neither wants the
repercussions from reneging on a major international trade deal. Both
attempt to figure out a workaround within the agreement framework and the
strictures placed on politicians by hysterical citizens. Korean envoys
visit Washington to parley.
- Frustrated with the country's paralysis over the beef
deal and their failure to warn the president of the unimaginable, eight of
the South Korean president's aides tender their resignations. He has not
accepted them -- yet. Rumors claim several cabinet ministers could also
get axed.
- Several major U.S. beef exporters, hunting a practical
solution, offered to restrict shipments to beef from animals under 30
months and indicate such on package labels. Virtually everything sold to
Korea is from younger animals, the hysteria among the Korean citizens is
largely about beef from over 30-month cattle and it would be private
initiative within the agreement. The agreement allows beef from animals of
any age with proper specified risk material (SRM) removal, according to
international scientific standards (OIE). Korean officials are hoping that
such "voluntary restrictions" on U.S. exporters
- perhaps with additional restrictions on Korean importers --
will satisfy both consumers and the U.S. government.
- The opposition parties took a rare step -- boycotting
the new parliament.
- Incredibly, labor unions representing hundreds of
thousands at Hyundai and Kia look likely to vote for a protest strike
shortly.
Koreans have been sensitized to food safety, as
recently over six million fowl were destroyed in a bird flu epidemic measure.
But criticisms of the agreement as hasty and unconcerned with food safety
ignore the painstaking negotiations over years that preceded the agreement.
Finally, someone has admitted that environmental concerns over a 200-mile canal
is also fueling the protests.
One South Korean editorial typifies the contradictions
some Koreans are currently exhibiting. It called for a
"compromise" -- complete renegotiation of the beef pact -- even
though it admits America has done nothing wrong -- because it claims 80 percent
of the country wants it. If the U.S. doesn't renegotiate, "Clearly,
Koreans' attitude towards the U.S. and American products will change in a
big way...The U.S. stands to lose far more than it would be
gaining..."
Eying my LG cell phone, my LG television screen
and the Hyundai, Suzuki and Kia vehicles on our streets, I reflected that the
Korean hyperbole hasn't even mentioned the volume of Korean products Americans
buy. Protesting students and politicians likely don't have jobs at any
companies shipping goods here. Belatedly, last week a presidential spokesman
finally acknowledged that renegotiation could "seriously affect"
Korean exports. Perhaps it is time for Korean businessmen and workers to inject
some rational common sense.
There are some pretty good-sized Korean sedans
here, but none with a bumper long enough for a sticker from the protest group
"provisionally named" the "National Countermeasure Meeting
Against Imports of U.S. Beef Possibly Infected with Mad Cow Disease."
That's heated rhetoric, not the scientific, sober-
minded approach we expect from South Koreans. And time is running out for
any chance of an FTA in the U.S. Congress.
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