Former President Roh Moo-hyun |
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
Former President Roh Moo-hyun has claimed that his government should not be blamed for the resumption of beef imports from the United States.
Roh countered the blame game saying his administration had not signed the deal and used consistent rules in the negotiations.
Roh made the remarks at his private meeting last week with a group of supporters at his residence in Bongha, Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province. One of them caught Roh's speech on his camera phone and disclosed it to the media.
Amid escalating backlash against the beef deal, a few presidential aides and governing party lawmakers said the incumbent Lee Myung-bak government simply signed the deal, which should have been completed under the Roh government.
Those conservatives complained that the Lee government had to do the dirty work and therefore should not be assailed.
Roh dismissed the conservatives' comments. ``What the conservatives have said is not proper. They must be unconscientious if they really meant it.''
The former President stressed that it's not his government that signed the deal, but the incumbent government.
``The U.S. government has not changed its position in the beef negotiations, but the government has,'' Roh said.
In his speech, the former President said food safety and several political factors discouraged his government from opening up the domestic market.
Park Hong-soo, who served as agriculture minister under the Roh government, shared the view.
During a National Assembly hearing on the beef issue last week, Park said the former government had maintained consistent rules in the beef negotiations with the United States such as the import ban on beef cuts from cows more than 30 months old.
But the government has used no rules in the negotiations, the former minister said.
After the media report regarding Roh's speech, the office of the former President said his comments were made during his private talk with the supporters and therefore should not be translated as his official position on the beef deal.
The office said that Roh did not intend to attack President Lee with his remarks.
Cheong Wa Dae and the governing Grand National Party have not made official comments on Roh's remarks so far.
hkang@koreatimes.co.kr
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