Gov't fails to calm down worries over food safety

Tens of thousands of people stage a candlelit rally at Seoul Plaza in downtown Seoul on July 5, 2008, asking the government to renegotiate with the U.S.
over beef imports. / Korea Times file

Lesson from US beef rallies drives authorities to put import ban on Japanese fish

By Kim Jae-won

When President Park Geun-hye defined substandard food as one of four social evils along with school bullying, domestic abuse and sex crimes, many of her opponents laughed, downplaying the seriousness of food safety compared to the seriousness of the other three issues.

However, she was wise enough to realize what people's concerns were really over. Providing safe food to people is as important as national security, or even more so.

A 2008 mass rally against U.S. beef imports is a perfect example showing how the issue of food could pose a serious threat to the government. Tens of thousands of people gathered at Seoul Plaza daily for almost two months during the hot summer months, chanting slogans opposing imports of U.S. beef to the country.

Most political commentators agree that the event undermined the power of the Lee Myung-bak government, which faced strong protests from people just a few months after his inauguration.

And now, five years after the incident, the Park administration seems to have learned an important lesson from the rally which attracted a wide range of people _ from housewives to salaried workers to high school students.

The government announced Friday that it will ban all fisheries imports from the radiation-hit Fukushima and seven other adjacent prefectures in Japan. It is a drastic shift from its initial stance of dismissing the public's concerns over Japanese fisheries products as simple "rumors."

As Japan's power plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. admitted two weeks ago that more than 300 tons of contaminated water had leaked from its Daiichi plant in Fukushima, worries over the safety of all kinds of foods and products from the country ― from beer to fisheries to diapers ― have deepened here.

Consumer groups have staged a rally to oppose importing fisheries from the neighboring country, pressuring the government to take action.

"The measure comes as people's concerns are growing over the fact that hundreds of tons of radiation contaminated water are leaked daily from the site of Japan's nuclear accident in Fukushima," the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said in a press release.

Prime Minister Chung Hong-won holds a snapper at a fish stall in the Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market, southwestern Seoul, Friday, a few hours later the government announced that it will ban all fish imports from Fukushima and seven adjacent prefectures in Japan. / Yonhap

Matter of science?

Of course, it invited quick reaction from Japan, which asked the country to think on the matter "based on science."

"We ask South Korea for a response based on science," said Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga at a news conference, hours after the announcement.

Tokyo said it is abiding by the international standards on foods and following strict safety controls based on them.

Coincidently, the word "science" reminds Koreans of former American ambassador to Seoul Alexander Vershbow who questioned Koreans' ability to understand science.

"So we hope that Koreans will begin to learn more about the science and about the facts of American beef and that this issue can be addressed constructively. We believe there is a lot of work ahead in getting people to pay more attention to the science and the facts of the matter," said the ambassador.

His comments enraged Koreans and fanned public anger further, already upset over what was seen as an "arrogant" U.S. attitude in dealing with the matter.

In fact, it is not just the Japanese government and the former U.S. ambassador who have advised Korean people to be more "scientific" in handling food security.

Dr. Chin Young-woo, a director at the state-run Korea Institute of Radiological and Medical Sciences, said that the levels of radioactive substances detected at Japanese fisheries are far less than the standards set by the government and other countries.

"There is no problem with the food that you eat from those fisheries. The level of radioactive materials detected in them is under 100 becquerel (Bq) per kilogram, which is far less than the level of radioactive materials in our body estimated at 4,100 becquerel," said Chin in a meeting with heads of consumer groups last week, hosted by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

The ministry said that among the 66,857 Japanese foods which it examined since March 2011, not one case had contained radioactive material more than its standard of 100 Bq per kilogram. The authorities said it detected between 2 and 5 Bq per kilogram in 131 Japanese fisheries during the same period, but all of them were below safety limits, posing no threat to the human body.

Boycott threats on Japanese products

But Chin was rebuffed by representatives of consumer groups who said that people are anxious about Japanese fisheries no matter how little radioactive substance they contain.

"The government should stop sales of all of Japanese fisheries which have radioactive material regardless of their amount. The government needs to implement stricter standards on Japanese fisheries and open up all information about them to the public," said Kim Yeon-hwa, head of Korea National Council of Consumer Organizations.

Others said that they will spare no efforts to prevent sales of Japanese fisheries, including boycotting Japanese products.

"We are ready to boycott all food imported from Japan if the government does not conduct necessary action. We cannot overemphasize the danger of Japanese fisheries because we live right beside the country," said Kim Cheon-ju, president of the Korea Federation of Housewives Clubs.

Kim said that sales of fisheries dropped 18 percent for the last month compared to a year ago, according to data from Lotte Mart, a local discount chain, showing consumers' worries are growing.

As Kim mentioned, local fishery markets suffered from a lack of consumption. Sales of fisheries have plunged drastically since then, regardless of their country of origin, as people were reluctant to buy fish until the safety was guaranteed.

When participants of the meeting moved to Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market in southwestern Seoul to have lunch, only a few customers were there. The biggest fisheries market in the country was strangely calm despite Chuseok, or Korean Thanksgiving, one of the biggest seasons for the market, being right around the corner.

A director of the food safety authorities said that it is hard to persuade people based on scientific facts because they do not believe what authorities say.

"I don't know how to calm people's worries over Japanese fisheries. For scientists like us, it is very clear that Japanese fish pose no threat. But it is a whole different matter to let people believe it," said the director, asking not to be named.