Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Milwaukiedave]

It will be interesting to see if Lee is actually able to convince people to stop protesting. If I was a betting man, I'd bet he won't be able to without causing more of an uproar.

The whole beef controversy has somewhat crippled his presidency.

SKorean president pans illegal protests By HYUNG-JIN KIM, Associated Press Writer

SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea's president spoke out Tuesday against the protests that have rattled his administration, saying the government would not tolerate any illegal, violent demonstrations against the planned resumption of U.S. beef imports.

South Korea and the United States struck a new deal last week restricting U.S. beef exports to younger cattle following weeks of street rallies in Seoul over health concerns. Korean activists, however, have vowed to keep rallying against President Lee Myung-bak, calling for a complete renegotiation of the original April beef accord.

Lee told a Cabinet meeting Tuesday that his government should "sternly deal with illegal, violent rallies that shake the national identity," according to his office. Lee added, however, that the government should review its policies when it faces protests criticizing a certain policy.

Lee also said it is "very fortunate" that there were no human casualties during weeks of rallies that occasionally turned violent.

Police said Tuesday they have so far formally arrested three protesters on charges of beating riot police and illegally occupying major Seoul streets. More than 600 demonstrators had been briefly detained amid the protests, according to police.

Culture Minister Yu In-chon urged protesters to halt their candlelight vigils, saying it was time to focus on overcoming economic difficulties such as surging oil prices.

"I think now it's time to put out candles and return to work," Yu told reporters.

Under an April agreement, South Korea was to resume U.S. beef imports with few restrictions. The update to the deal, however, requires the U.S. to export only product from cattle 30 months or younger, which are considered less at risk of carrying mad cow disease.

A public survey released Tuesday suggested most South Koreans still oppose the new import plan.

Nearly 53 percent of respondents to a telephone survey said the South Korean government should not accept the new deal, while just over 38 percent supported it. The survey of 726 adults conducted by the Seoul-based Korea Research Center had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.

Seoul had been expected to move in coming days to resume American beef imports, but the ruling party and the government decided Sunday to delay the process to seek the public's understanding on the issue.

Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-chun indicated the government would soon restart beef imports by posting an official notice of the agreement.

"I can't clearly say the notice would be made today or tomorrow, but we can't further delay it," Chung told a news conference.

The decision to proceed slowly reflected the government's concerns it would be accused of arrogance and suffer a backlash if it was to resume U.S. beef imports without explaining the move fully to the public.

U.S. beef was banned from South Korea in 2003, after the first case of mad cow disease was discovered in cattle there. South Korea had previously been the third-largest market for American beef.

Eating meat products contaminated with mad cow disease is linked to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare and fatal human malady. U.S. and South Korean officials insist American beef is safe.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080624/ap_on_re_as/skorea_us_beef

[Fishead soup]

This country really needs affordable beef products. The last time I ordered beef it was 15 000 a seving for a tiny slab of beef that was cut paper thin.

[Milwaukiedave]

I agree, but state controlled prices is much better for Korean farmers. The protests have little to do with Mad Cow. It seems like protectionism

[Jandar]

On a lighter note:

Distortions and Fabrications

Four middle-aged men walked into the Seocho Police Station at around 1:20 a.m. on Monday, demanding to meet four candlelight protesters who had been detained by police. The police officer in charge informed the men that visiting hours were from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and told them to fill out an application and come back in the morning. One of the men then demanded that they should be able to see the detainees at any hour and hit the police officer in the back of the neck. Another police officer accidentally struck the man in the head while attempting to break up the scuffle, prompting the other three men to join in wielding what looked like walking sticks. For 20 minutes, the lobby of the Seocho Police Station fell into chaos.

A few hours later, a message was posted on an Internet portal saying that police had assaulted civilians. It said one officer held the man in a stranglehold from behind, while another plain-clothes officer punched him. It went on to say the other men were knocked to the ground and trampled. Members of the People's Association for Measures Against Mad Cow Disease visited the Korean National Police Agency in protest and threatened to take legal measures against the officers for assault. The Seocho Police Station was bombarded with protest phone calls all day. Finally, police revealed a 50 minute video clip of the four men getting violent at the police station.

If this sort of incident had happened at a police station in an advanced country, the people responsible for assaulting the officers would have been arrested and charged with a felony. But the officers at the Seocho Police Station sent the men back home after calming them down, telling them to come back in the morning. Police officers, who are the arms and legs of state authority, are feeling intimidated.

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200806/200806250023.html

[Jandar]

..and at the top.

Exposing Ex-Minister's Deception Is Child's Play

Former agriculture minister Kim Sung-hoon in an article in a weekly newspaper last month said the U.S. government was concealing the results of tests by Yale University and the University of Pittsburgh showing that at least 250,000 to 650,000 people in the United States have died from the human form of mad cow disease but this was being covered up as deaths from senile dementia.

To repeat the point that has been mentioned countless times already, there has yet to be a single recorded case of a person contracting variant Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (vCJD), or the human form of mad cow disease, after consuming American beef. The Yale and University of Pittsburgh research papers cited by Kim say 5 to 13 percent of senile dementia patients in the United States suffer from standard Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (CJD), which has been officially confirmed to have no relation to beef or mad cow disease. Citing a different disease, Kim said there were 650,000 vCJD victims in the U.S. when in fact there are none. This is an unbelievable act of deception.

Similar cases of fabricated information floated around the Internet during the early stages of the mad cow controversy. Not just any minister but the former agriculture minister and incumbent president of a university has led the way in spreading such preposterous horror stories. Kim also said that a 22-year-old American woman died of vCJD in April this year, which was confirmed to be untrue. These false rumors and claims spread through media broadcasts and the Internet played a major role in stirring up mad cow fears.

Kim claimed that the U.S. cannot resort to trade retaliation even if Korea does not abide by the beef accord signed with Washington. When he was agriculture minister, Kim was responsible for strongly demanding emergency tariffs to be levied on Chinese garlic, causing tremendous damage to Korea by triggering a Chinese trade retaliation. Irresponsible behavior is nothing new to him.

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200806/200806250028.html

[JustJohn]

That's all well and good, but what's a hault?

[Fishead soup]

Most riot police are conscripts. In other words they do it as mandatory military service. Most of the riot police are not there by choice.

[chris_J2]

He failed.

They're at it again today:

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/06/29/skorea.beef/

[Ya-ta Boy]

It looks to me like the New United Democratic Party has stumbled on a way to nullify last year's election. They are the more nationalistic of the two main parties and could have straightened out the beef situation last fall and then passed the FTA while they still controlled the presidency. They didn't. I'm not saying they planned this situation, but I am saying they quickly figured out how to make use of it.

[Kimchi Cowboy]

Sweet Mother of Jesus!


If Koreans don't want American beef.....















(here comes a revolutionary thought - brace for it!)

















(are you ready, Korea?)






















(Hold on, here it comes.....)























Don't freaking buy it!!!!!!!




Holy Christ, is it that difficult? If nobody buys it, the imports will stop. Period. There's no need for the mass protests and violence.


Korea~! Sparkle with your wallets!

[Ya-ta Boy]

You're missing an important element. About 2 weeks ago there were reports that HomePlus or somebody was (deliberately) mislabeling US beef as either Australian or Korean. How can a consumer be sure what he/she is buying is really what the label says it is?

Suppose there really were something wrong with the beef (there isn't, but what if...). The protesters, PD Diary and the KTU have succeeded in creating a climate of fear that is going to take years to get over.

If the government doesn't do something (and I think it's too late) to discredit PD Diary and the KTU and bring about a backlash against the protests, it is almost certain to fail to pass the FTA. The left has prevented the importation of US rice, beef and cars. They don't protect intellectual rights (movies and software). Congress is not gung ho about passing the FTA.

[IMF crisis]

One of the biggest reasons for all this protesting is that many people here are very, very bored. It's been a long time coming, but playing Starcraft and watching 2002 World Cup highlights have finally lost some of their entertainment value.

[Jandar]

Gov�t Vows Crackdown on Violent Protests


The government will track down instigators of illegal violent demonstrations and prosecute them, it threatened in an emergency statement at 3 p.m. Sunday. The government also plans to file civil lawsuits for damages from vandalism. Justice Minister Kim Kyung-han, delivering the statement, said demonstrators who vandalized police buses with iron pipes and hammers and attacked police officers with slingshots and iron pipes �threaten the safety of ordinary citizens. We cannot close our eyes and have to take strict measures against the protesters,� the statement read.

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200806/200806300013.html

There's a really good video clip here that shows the protesters with metal pipes and even a few protesters using fire hoses against the police.
At the very least you have to admire the protesters tactics.

[saw6436]

Now that summer is here I am beginning to seriously worry about Fan Death Syndrome (FDS).

I do feel the US government needs to throughy investigate the dangers of FDS. And until such time as Korea can assure and convince the American people that Korean fans are safe, the US needs to ban ALL Korean products that contain electrical components. I fear for the lives of my precious fellow Americans.

[mises]

The protesters were filling waterguns with acid and spraying the conscripts. Classy.