Policemen take away a member of a farmers' group out of the Government Complex in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, hours before the government officially announced the resumption of U.S. beef imports Thursday. For the first time since 2003, Korea will resume imports of American beef. / Yonhap |
Opposition Lawmakers Plan Massive Rally Over Weekend
By Michael Ha, Park Si-soo
Staff Reporters
Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-chun announced the conditions for U.S. beef imports Thursday and pledged to take steps to tighten quarantine and inspection control to ensure safety.
The announcement triggered immediate denunciation from the opposition parties and civic groups which plan to hold protest rallies in Seoul and other major cities at the weekend.
In a televised press conference, Chung said the government will heighten its monitoring system to prevent specified risk materials (SRMs), including beef cuts with spinal cords, from being imported. The government will also attach clear place-of-origin labeling on imported beef.
The minister also said the government will increase laboratory checks for by-products such as cow tongues and intestine parts. The government will require that T-bone steaks bear the age of the butchered cattle on its packaging.
Any meat packaging plant mistakenly sending SRMs or repeatedly violating import rules will be banned from shipping beef here.
Seoul can also halt imports if any new mad cow disease ― or bovine spongiform encepalopathy ― cases occur in the United States.
It will also boost the number of inspectors that will check compliance from 400 to 1,000, with another 25,000 to be hired as honorary monitors.
The government promised to provide direct cash aid for the eco-friendly raising of cattle to local cattle farmers.
UDP legislators will to take to the streets, party officials said.
About 10 opposition lawmakers visited the presidential office Thursday, demanding nullification of the beef deal.
Other opposition parties made similar demands.
``This is a declaration of war on the public,'' the ultra-conservative Liberty Forward Party said in a statement.
The progressive Democratic Labor Party said they will take to the streets to protect the health and the rights of South Koreans and its leaders will go on a hunger strike.
Striving to soothe the tension, the governing Grand National Party (GNP) reiterated that American beef is safe to eat and sufficient measures have been set up for the local cattle industry.
``The government has tried its best to free the public from unnecessary concerns, and sufficient countermeasures have been prepared,'' said Lee Hahn-koo, the party's chief policymaker.
The heightened tension is anticipated to further dampen the GNP's efforts to win parliamentary ratification of a Seoul-Washington free trade agreement (FTA), which has been viewed as crucial in giving impetus to the economic initiatives of the conservative Lee Myung-bak government.
Failing in its original attempt to settle the motion within the tenure of the outgoing legislature, the GNP has been struggling to secure cooperation in the new National Assembly which will convene Friday.
Tens of thousands of citizens and students from more than 1,000 civic groups took to the streets hours after the government officially announced the resumption of U.S. beef imports, which will be available to consumers as early as next week.
Both prosecutors and police issued a stern warning of arresting law-breaking protestors. ``We will not tolerate any illegal activities during the rally. Law violators will face indictment,'' said senior prosecutor Kim Hee-kwan.
However, protestors gathered at plazas in front of Seoul City Hall and Cheonggae Square, both of which are in downtown Seoul, holding a candle in one hand and placards criticizing the deal in the other chanting ``Nullify the beef deal,'' ``Eat the mad cow yourself Lee Myung-bak,'' and ``Impeachment.''
Lee Dae-young, general secretary of Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice, said ``The beef deal between Korea and the U.S. is full of faults. It will threaten public health.''
Han young-jin, spokesman for an anti-U.S. beef import civic group, condemned the decision, saying ``Once the notification takes effect, the government will face an unprecedented public backlash.''
Police detained protesters who occupied streets.
Thousands of riot police and armored vehicles with teargas launchers were dispatched. This has caused severe traffic congestion.
On the same day, the prosecution decided not to seek indictments against any of the 211 protestors rounded up over the last four days by the police _ most of them had surrendered at City Hall Square without violence.
In the meantime, the Korea Cargo Transport Workers Union said they will refuse to ship American beef imports. It said it will physically block non-members from shipping the containers from Busan port. It is a member of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, one of the nation's two major labor organizations.
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