U.S. Beef Crisis Escalates in S Korea as Cabinet Offers Collective Resignation

[NashVegas]

Source: Xinhuanet

The political unrest triggered by South Korean government's decision on unconditionally lift a ban over U.S. beef imports escalated on Tuesday as the prime minister and all Cabinet members offered to resign to take responsibilities for the mounting tensions nationwide.

Prime Minister Han Seung-soo, who took office on Feb. 29, tendered his and the Cabinet ministers' resignations to President Lee Myung-bak at Lee's office in the morning after presiding over a weekly Cabinet meeting to take all responsibilities for the political turmoil caused by the U.S. beef imports pact, local media said.
...
The president is expected to selectively accept the offers and replace half a dozen ministers involved in the U.S. beef import deal, including Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan, Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-chun and Finance Minister Kang Man-soo, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency quoted officials as saying.

The unprecedented collective resignation was announced as about1 million South Korean people were expected to conduct street rallies throughout the country on Tuesday night.

Thousands of riot police have been deployed in central Seoul in case of conflicts with protesters. At Sejong Road Intersection, which is about 1 km away from the Presidential Office and several hundred meters from the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, the police have set roadblocks with 40-feet shipping containers against protests and resulted in grave traffic paralysis in downtown area.

Read more: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-06/10/content_8340910.htm

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What's wrong with people in the US that we sit on our asses for out-and-out crimes, while other people are out in the streets practicing democracy on a regular basis?

[lynnertic]

1. did you know the democracy practiced by S. Koreans is actually physically strenuous?

And sometimes it hurts.

[apnu]

3. damn that top picture is awesome!

[ohio2007]

5. It's interesting that their grade school curriculum included comic books that said western food was

full of chemical poisons and good children must avoid it at all costs. Those kids are now in their 20's,30's and.....

Now, who paid for and supplied those comic books ?

moot point,

cuz they learned their lessons well ;)

[madrchsod]

2. the people of south korea

are an example of what needs to be done.the koreans are willing to put their lives on the line and some have paid with their lives to live in a real democracy.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

9. This is sad, and makes me so ashamed

Koreans , from my limited knowledge (I have friends and family who have travelled there and stayed with Korean families), really have admired our country, and considered us an ally and "friend" which means very much in their culture. Look what "we" have done to them.

[Mojorabbit]

4. And offering to resign!

Would that we could see that type of behavior here.

[lynnertic]

6. Ugly Americans Have No Shame.

That sounds like it would make a good protest song...

[cliss]

7. The issue here is unsafe food standards.

We've had some problems relating to mad cow disease. About 2 years ago, South Korea became really concerned about meat safety and they stopped all U.S. beef imports.
There were several containers at the port, and they were refused entry.
The U.S. meat industry went bonkers.

South Korea held its ground.

They held out for another 2 years, insisting on certain standards like no cow spines in the meat, plus other certain restrictions. The US resisted but I think they finally accepted the conditions.

The first shipment goes to S. Korea, and guess what happens? The first package that gets inspected has spinal materials in them.
S. Korea AGAIN refuses the shipment and it gets returned to the U.S.

[riverdeep]

10. That's what I figured.

So you have here a government actually doing its job as elected, to make sure of food safety, and the people rise up. Or am I missing something, is there some kind of kick-back from local beef producers the politicians were taking?

[nebula]

8. Nice

I almost forgot what it looks like to see people exercising their civic responsibility.













Huge protest in Seoul threatens to topple government
June 10, 2008

For 40 days, central Seoul has been rocked by demonstrations, which began as rallies by hundreds of teenage students, singing, dancing and holding candles to protest American beef. They have evolved into a protest against government policies on education, health care and consumer prices.

The rally had an almost festive mood, with antigovernment slogans reverberating through the city center well past midnight. Loudspeakers blared the songs South Koreans sang during their struggle against the military dictators of the 1970s and '80s. Large balloons carried banners that read "Judgement day for Lee Myung Bak" and "Renegotiate the beef deal." One widely distributed leaflet said: "Mad cow drives our people mad!"

South Korea banned American beef imports in December 2003 after a case was reported in the United States.

The police estimated the crowd at 100,000, while organizers claimed it amounted to 700,000.


www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/10/asia/korea.php?page=1