This past summer saw thousands of Koreans protested the importation of US beef. A media report made false claims about US beef that fanned the flames of discontent. Now, with poisonous Chinese food-food from China, not dumplings-some Koreans are calling for a response. What should be done? Should Korea ban food from China?

Yes
* China Unregulated. Melamine was responsible for thousands of pet deaths last year because of tainted dog food. Now the issue is tainted milk. Also, last year toxic glycerin was sold to hospitals in Panama as medical glycerin, killing at least 350 people. China lacks regulations.

* Chinese Disrespect. Fishermen killed Korean Coast Guard. Chinese fans greatly distracted Korea's Olympic archers in Beijing. Chinese citizens are saying, ``Koreans are stealing the Chinese history," and claiming that the ancient Goguryo kingdom is part of Chinese history.

* Protect Ourselves. Korea must protect its own people. If thousands upon thousands can gather all summer to protest the possibility of US beef that might be hazardous, but has never hurt a Korean, then surely the government should actually protect Koreans from Chinese products that can actually hurt them.

NO
* Greater Testing Needed. Have testing in place to make sure that tainted food does not get through. Korean companies like Lotte are involved in the current rash of product toxicity. Lotte biscuits had the highest toxicity of any imported Chinese product now banned as of the writing of this article.

* Nationalism Retaliation. If Korea bans Chinese food across the board, China will retaliate by boycotting or banning Korean goods. China already holds a not-so-positive view of Korea and while American might not respond to Korea's anti-Americanism, China will. To quote Gandhi, "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

* More Testing Needed. Instead of all-out ban of Chinese food, why not require more testing? The testing could be funded by extra import taxes on food from China. The need for safety pays for itself. When China proves it can continually produce non-poisonous food, safety testing in Korea can be abandoned.

Special note: Congratulations to Eun Seong Hwang for being elected co-coach with me to help train Korea's national debate team. This weekend we will be working with the top 24 debaters in the country as we narrow the field from 24 to 12.

If you want to know what is going on in the world of speech and debate in Korea, join the "Korea Forensics League" group on facebook.com.