President Lee Myung-bak unexpectedly faces impeachment calls not from politicians but from citizens less than 70 days after his inauguration. So what do they find wrong with him? A leadership crisis? Conflict with opposition party members? Or an internal feud in his own party? It's none of the above. Rather it is because of a mounting public scare over mad cow disease.
Concerns about mad cow disease have reignited in South Korea since the country decided to fully open its beef market to U.S. imports in mid-April. This time, the mad cow scare is not based on any scientific reasons or the finding of specific risk materials causing the incurable illness.
Rather, the scare is attributed to President Lee's beef market policy and his efforts to cement alliance with the United States. During negotiations with the U.S. side in Seoul on April 18, Korean officials struck a deal to open the local market wider to U.S. beef. The deal grabbed attention because Lee was in Washington, D.C., to hold a summit with President George W. Bush.
Thus, the market-opening agreement has raised suspicions that it was a present for Bush in return for the April 18-19 summit at Camp David. Lee became the first South Korean president to hold a summit at the U.S. presidential retreat. Critics claimed Lee made too many concessions to the U.S. by allowing American beef unrestricted access to the Korean market.
Before the Lee-Bush meeting, the U.S. came up with a series of requests, including the beef market-opening, more payments for relocation of U.S. bases in South Korea and more money for maintenance of U.S. troops. At last, President Lee had to accept the U.S. demand for the beef market liberalization in exchange for the restoration of the traditional alliance between the two countries, which had become frayed under liberal President Roh Moo-hyun.
The deal allows most beef cuts, including bone-in-beef and by-products, to be imported and will lead to the revision of South Korea's import sanitation rules that have only allowed boneless beef from cattle under 30 months old. Therefore, U.S. beef will soon find its way to the dining tables of Korean families. South Korea has partially allowed U.S. beef since it banned American beef imports in December 2003 over the outbreak of mad cow disease. President Lee stressed that people will enjoy beef at cheap prices due to the opening.
On Friday Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-chun and Health and Welfare Minister Kim Soung-yee hurriedly held a news conference to calm down the mad cow fears and publicize the safety of U.S. beef. However, they failed to ease public concerns. More and more people seem to think that the Lee administration gave in to U.S. pressure on market opening at the expense of South Korea's national interest and its people's health.
The public refuses to trust government officials' explanation that the U.S. has promised to do more to ensure beef safety. More than 500,000 Internet users participated in the signature collecting campaign for the impeachment of President Lee over the beef issue.
Thousands of protesters launched a candlelight vigil in downtown Seoul Friday evening to call on the government to revoke the beef deal. The protest is reminiscent of a candlelight vigil to mourn two Korean middle school girls killed in an accident by a U.S. armored vehicle in 2002. There are concerns that the beef issue might see a return of the anti-American sentiment as seen in the death case.