Mad Cow Disease Fears Spark Mass Demonstrations in South Korea
In Seoul, South Korea, this past Friday 10,000 people took to the streets in a candle light vigil to oppose US beef imports that many fear may be tainted with mad cow disease. Overnight, the number of peaceful protesters doubled and by Saturday night, 20,000 - 25,000 South Koreans held candles and raised their voices against American beef imports.
I joined the protests on Saturday to learn more.
The demonstrations targeted South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, self-declared “CEO of the Korea, Inc.,” who recently met with US President Bush to swallow a $20 billion free trade deal. The deal pivoted on South Korea’s consent to vastly increase US beef imports at the expense of its farmers and against the will of its citizens.
But South Koreans fear that mad cow disease has not been eradicated in the US. In particular, many point out that mad cow disease can remain dormant for decades in humans who have eaten tainted meat.
Many of the protesters this weekend were women who were extremely upset that in years to come their children might pay with their lives for President Lee’s kowtowing to US export interests.
Not only does the opening of Korean markets to US beef have South Koreans feeling worried for health safety reasons. It will also starve out South Korean beef farmers, who have led separate demonstrations across Korea against importing US beef.
The US-Korea deal will also badly damage the Australian cattle industry, which had more than doubled exports to South Korea since 2003, when concerns over mad cow disease caused a drop in US beef imports to the country.
Lastly, many South Koreans point out with alarm that beef products from US cattle older than 30 months, which are at particular risk for mad cow disease and which are generally not eaten in the United States, will make their way to Korean dinner tables.
One of the most remarkable aspects of the demonstration was how tidy, peaceful, and well organized it was. Although at least a dozen caged police buses waited on the nearby street, police action was entirely unnecessary. Volunteers kept demonstrators under control and peaceful.
Even more noteably, after the candlelight demonstration concluded, volunteers cleaned up the trash that had gathered on the street. I even saw dozens of volunteers scraping the melted wax that had dripped from candles off of the sidewalk. It was perhaps the most responsibly orchestrated demonstration I have ever witnessed.
Information source: Reuters
Photo, video credit: Gavin Hudson, EcoWorldly
That leaves us in the United States wondering how to get Korean beef…
I am impressed with the cleanliness and orderliness of the demonstrations. Scraping the melted wax… it seems like a great expression of non-waste. Maybe they can re-use those bits of wax.
Here is an article on a longer-term solution, but it does not answer the short-term concerns:
http://www.thetechnologyblog.net/archives/2007/01/02
I did some more investigating online, and found this unnerving video.
I had heard about stories like this some years ago, but this report is current to 2008, and shows me (an American) that our beef supply is not safe as well as being inhumane. I am not a vegetarian, but eat less and less meat. Veggie burgers are terrific, by the way.
I sent an email of this article to my friend. Korean internet users have been desperately trying to report this event to Western media. Thank you for letting people in the world know what happened here.
Hello
I’m korean.
Our country is now safe for the people
Candles to light.
The government is forcing soldiers and armed civilians. Jikyeobwaju attention to me! Help!
Our scientific knowledge is very limited and there are many diseases which our medical science could not eliminate or cure- some illness can be cured, cannot cured or just loose one’s life to it.
The Korean mass demonstration against the beef and eventually against the Lee government is very dangerous tactics which are damaging the Korea’s economy immensely, most beneficial to stupid anti lee politicians, eventually Kim Joong Ill dreamers.
Their actions are excessive and very harmful to Koreans and the Korean images which display irrationality of Korean people.
Don’t we have any decent educators or scientists who could explain the status of mad cow disease control techniques to the Korean people? If the college student demonstrators are smart enough, try to seek a fair solutions to the problem, getting help from our own scientists and government officials.
.
If they really don’t like the beef, just don’t buy it and don’t eat.
If they antagonize the trade relations with US, South Korea could hurt her national economy immensely. If you continue the stupid emotional demonstrations to destroy the Lee government, that is a great opportunity for the North Korean communist to walk down to South and join the mass. In that case, do you think the United States Army would fight for you stupid demonstrators against the North. You must understand South has only a small part of her small territory now. Didn’t see how Mr, Lee look so small when he met with the Chinese President Hu jin Tau.
South become so prosperous with the aid from the US. So you can now have a choice to east the beef or not to eat under the circumstances. Do you think If the North walks down to South, could they feed you better beef?
Allow the government to find a best way to deal with the beef problems. Do you think demonstrators could resolve the problem? If
you don’t respect the law and order of your own free society, who would help you? If your demonstration had sent your sincere messages to the government, it would try to resolve the problem for the best interest of the Korean people.
Thank you all for your thoughtful comments.
PlanetThoughts, agreed on veggie burgers.
Luna, yes, it’s frustrating how little international media filters into the US. Increasing the flow of international (esp. environmental) news to the US is certainly one of the things that we’re trying to do on EcoWorldly.
Chae Sone, interesting view. It was certainly unnerving this week to hear the air raid siren test.
chae sone, the reason why people are mad is because the president is pulling some WEASEL sh*t, and signed a deal that f*cks with KOREANS on TWO LEVELS.. the agriculture and the health of citizens who have to eat that meat that US citizens don’t even find fit to eat. if you dont understand that and think it’s better to a*s kiss the US or you think its better that people should have to worry about getting sick whenever they want meat, then you’re an idiot. funny thing is, you’re korean too.. what’s wrong with you? stop trying to be cute.
If the Korean government was going to buy such dangerous beef, it should be stopped. Korean people don’t have eat it. But the demonstrations seem
to have been wasteful to that society, needless to say, about school and family affairs. The Korean government should be smart enough to have received the message from them.
chae sone , you don’t know any sh*t so just shut your mouth and go to hell, alright? Korean government’s not smart enough, that’s why.