From Times Online
June 8, 2008
40,000 march against US beef in South Korea over fears of BSE
(Kim Jae-Hwan/AFP/Getty)
Riot police confront protesters in Seoul - the rally turned violent later
in the day
Image :1 of 3
Leo Lewis
South Korean politics are on the brink of meltdown after spiralling
public hysteria over "mad cow" disease in American beef unleashed a
weekend of mass protests and pitched battles between demonstrators
and riot police.
Police vehicles were today attacked by angry mobs armed with sticks
and police lines were re****tedly charged after the 40,000-strong
crowd of peaceful protesters thinned-out to leave a smaller group of
activists.
With the violence threatening to continue for another week, and the calls
for his resignation being screamed by students on the streets of Seoul,
President Lee Myung Bak now faces a series of potentially crippling
departures from his immediate circle of allies.
Just a few short months since taking the reins of power in South Korea
with pledges of stronger government, Mr Lee is expected within the next
couple of days to receive letters of resignation from his Prime Minister,
Han Seung Soo, half a dozen members of his cabinet and a number of
his closest aides.
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Government sources said that a "collective resignation" was a near
certainty over the next few days because of the persistent failure of
Mr Lee's government to calm a population that believes its leaders
are playing fast and loose with an issue of public health.
The weekend's violence was the culmination of rising fury over a
government plan to resume im****ts of American beef after a five-year
suspension.
The discovery of a case of BSE in a cow in the US in 2003 prompted
several countries to suspend im****ts. Wa****ngton has slowly managed
to persuade large former customers like Japan to resume their im****ts,
but it was only in April that Seoul agreed to do so.
But many South Koreans - via some of the most active internet message
boards in the world - objected strongly to that decision, arguing that
this was an example of Mr Lee being too acquiescent towards the US.
Sensationalist television do***entaries involving questionable science
and supposed footage of cows staggering around farmyards, further
roused public suspicion in the face of repeated assertions by the US
Department of Agriculture that American beef was entirely safe.
Schoolchildren and university students have been especially vocal in
their distrust of Mr Lee and his government, and could be seen
waving placards bearing phrases like "Why must I die like a mad cow?"
With his control over public opinion now in tatters, and his plan to
resume US beef im****ts in limbo, Mr Lee received a phone call from
George W Bush on Saturday in which the US President promised
that only US beef from younger cattle would be sold to South Korea.
It was not enough to calm the mood on the streets, however.
The scenes in the capital over the weekend, which were repeated on a
smaller scale in towns across the country, deal a heavy blow to a
president who has all but lost the sup****t of the country. Young
Koreans who were initially whipped into a frenzy over the issue of US
beef im****ts on hundreds of internet message boards have become
increasingly vocal and physical in the streets.
The rioting follows six weeks of demonstrations that have sent the
approval ratings of Korea's new president plunging below 20 per cent.
Mr Lee was voted in by a huge landslide last December, but has had
barely a moment to flex his political muscles. Even by the fickle
standards of South Korean politics, say analysts, his fall from grace
has been surprisingly hard and fast.
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Have your say
...
At least the South Koreans have the sense to fight for a food supply
that has not been tainted. Pity the rest of the world hasn't figured out
that its time for us to be legitmately afraid of what's in the food we
eat.
Glynnis
glynnis, Chicago, Illinois
...
Read all 19 comments
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4091038.ece
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