37 protesters detained at illegal rally in South Korea against US beef imports

[Robbien]

Source: AP

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korean police detained 37 protesters for holding an illegal rally against a beef imports agreement with the United States, a police officer said Sunday.

. . .

About 7,000 protesters held a candlelight vigil near the city hall on Saturday and about half of them later occupied roads in central Seoul before dispersing early Sunday. But 250 protesters continued their rally until around 5 a.m. (2000 GMT), clashing with riot police.

President Lee Myung-bak last week sought to reassure the country on the safety of U.S. beef, but failed to ease public anger, fanned in part by media reports questioning the safety of the meat.

South Korea suspended U.S. beef imports after the first American case of mad cow disease appeared in December 2003 in a Canadian-born cow in Washington state.
Restricted imports of U.S. beef reached South Korean supermarkets last year, but further shipments were canceled in October after banned parts, such as bones, were found.

. . .

Thousands of South Koreans have taken part in candlelight vigils in recent weeks urging the government to scrap a recent deal to resume imports of U.S. beef.

Read more: http://www.pr-inside.com/protesters-detained-at-illegal-rally-r607379.htm

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Meanwhile back here in the USA, the government is suing any cattle rancher who increases their testing of cattle for mad cow disease.

[rpannier]

1. I live in Korea and he has been and is taking a political beating over this

He's got two nicknames now:

1. Some people are calling him "George Bush"

and some are calling him

2. The Crazy Cow

[beingjin]

2. It's more than just about american beef, South Korea's hard-earned democracy is at stake!

Thank you for posting this article here.....

and, I wish these protests were only about the American beef import.

I hope you read the following and get what I mean by this: (and Please! spread the word! We would all really appreciate it)

--------------------------------------------

My name is Jin, and I am from South Korea.

I am not sure if you've already heard that the Korean government is going to begin to import! beef - of cattle older than 30 months, which is known to have considerable potential of 'mad cow disease (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy)' - from the United States within a month. Recently, as you might already know, there has been the largest, in history, beef recall in the U.S.The video footage released by Humane Society demonstrates how inappropriately the cattle are raised in the U.S, not to mention how dangerous it is, therefore, to eat the beef from those cows when the inspection system obviously falls short of 'adequate' in the U.S. I hear American people are increasingly concerned about this issue these days, as well.

As usual, the deal was quickly made behind the door, and when we, Korean people, found out what the president, who entered the office only about 3 months ago, has done, we were outraged. Not surprisingly, the core issues regarding the beef import! and, more importantly, danger of mad cow disease are hardly mentioned by the media. It seems like the Korean government is repeating the same message - that, it's OK - as the British government did before the mad cow disease began to terrify the whole country, resulting in 163 victims since the mid 80s'.

There have been a number of mass candlelight protests across the country against the deal with the U.S. The government is not only preventing media from paying attention to our voice but also calling on the police to keep an eye on the public movements, even threatening that those who participate in the protests will face 'legal consequences.' "Commies," the leftist are leading the crowd, according to the government, and they argue there is a political demagogue behind the public dissent. It seems only logical to conclude that we need to take harder action against the government, because there are just way too many problems with them for us to fight against. And naturally, the public backlash is only escalating.

Even more urgent, genetically modified corns were already shipped to this country and are reportedly going on sale from next month, here in Korea. I recently learned the GMO was even rejected by African countries when it was offered as aid.

This incredibly overt neoliberal president Myung-bak Lee (shortly called MB) , former CEO, and his administration are doing everything they can to turn this country into hyper-capitalist state in such a short amount of time.

They are planning to:
1. privatize the health care system - going for "the American style." Unbelievable.
2. privatize the water/electricity/gas supply, postal service, .
3. privatize other state-owned enterprises including the Seoul Metro, public bank(the Korea Development Bank) and other institutions in which public funds are invested.
Daewoo Ship-building & Marine Engineering - which produces submarines, destroyers, battle ships, submarine rescue vessels, AUV,
and other specialty vessels - is one of them; and it is going to be sold via Goldman Sachs Korea - in which the president's nephew has
been lately hired as the chairman - to a private corporation or, possibly, to "China." Obviously, this is going to be an enormous threat
to national security.
4. make a huge canal across the country - which, even before the last presidential election, was highly controversial and severely
criticized by intellectuals, environmentalists and the public, etc, for its environmental and even economic risks.
5. erase the "Japanese colony era" from textbooks, claiming we must forgive them and get over the past. As you might know, there still are a number of issues left unsolved about the historical tragedy, such as the 'comfort women' issue. The president was born in Osaka, Japan.

All these news came out within 3 months.

Words fail me.

In the recent visit to the U.S., the president said, in front of the audience consisting of the government officials and businesspeople, that he is "a business-friendly person, and (even though some people criticize him for being too business-friendly) wants to be more business-friendly," and, even more outrageously, that 'he's the CEO of Korea. Inc." The applause, to me, resonated as the beginning of disaster. The upcoming negotiation on FTA with the U.S. is going to enslave 'Korea. Inc' and the citizens to the hands of multi-national corporations.

Our hard-earned democracy is in danger.

The whole country is at stake.

Please help us be heard. South Korea, just like any other country on this planet, is not for sale.

[Bozita]

4. Welcome to DU, and BTW, that's one helluva first post.

Thanks for joining us.

[Robbien]

5. A great post

I was worried when the news report came out of Myung-bak Lee winning the election. The news reports here said the man was very neo-liberal and made privatization part of his campaign. Therefore it was surprising to me that he won.

These neo-liberal policies here in the US is killing our middle class. After watching Canada go down that same neo-liberal road with John Howard, it is sad to see Korea choosing the same path.

[Bozita]

3. Guarantee: You won't find a word of this in the corporate media.

Double your money back.

[ohio2007]

6. Why not ship it to North Korea

they wouldn't turn away a cash cow like that.