South Korea's major business organizations Tuesday appealed to citizens to stop demonstrations, citing economic woes amid soaring prices of oil and other raw materials.
The appeal comes as more than 1 million people are expected to participate in overnight rallies Tuesday evening in protest against South Korea's resumption of U.S. beef imports.
"Despite the government's various measures to allay public resentment over U.S. beef, we are deeply worried because the rallies took a violent turn recently," the nation's five business groups said in a joint statement. "Given the difficult economic situations, those rallies should be immediately stopped."
The groups included the Federation of Korean Industries and the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Massive street rallies have been held almost everyday in Seoul since the South Korean government signed the controversial beef deal in mid-April.
To soothe public anger, the South Korean government has asked the U.S. to help secure a voluntary deal not to ship beef from cattle over 30 months of age. Younger cows are believed to be less at risk for mad cow disease.