Beef Import Resumption

Policymakers Should Go All-Out to Ease Pubic Concerns

South Korea is expected to resume imports of U.S. beef as early as next week as the government has decided to post the new beef deal with the United States on its gazette. The decision was made Thursday as the Lee Myung-bak administration could no longer delay the implementation of the beef trade accord. It is inevitable for the government to face continued criticism for completely opening the local market to American beef despite public fears about mad cow disease.

Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-chun requested the Ministry of Public Administration and Security to post the deal detailing the new import standards for the beef. It will take the government two or three days to see these go into effect. Therefore, the country will soon reopen its market to American beef, ending eight months of suspension. The first inspection is expected to be conducted on 5,300 tons of U.S. beef whose import process was suspended last October as banned parts were found in it.

The U.S. will have unrestricted access to the local beef market as long as all specified risk materials (SRMs) are removed. SRMs include tonsils, brains, skulls, spinal cord marrow, tongue, eyes and the distal ileum _ a part of the small intestine, which are considered susceptible to carrying mad cow disease.

For now, the prospect for sales of U.S. beef in Korea is not bright because people could boycott the imports due to their anger over the ``unfair'' deal and exaggerated fears about mad cow disease. They have continued to criticize the government for making too many concessions to the U.S. at the expense of public health. They show little sign of backing down from their opposition to imports of American beef from cattle older than 30 months.

Lawmakers of the United Democratic Party (UDP) and other opposition parties are also calling for renegotiations with the U.S. to ensure the safety of beef imports. They have vowed to hold mass rallies to block the imports. They are also considering seeking a court injunction on the deal or filing a suit with the Constitutional Court over the legitimacy of the deal. Unionists have threatened to picket storehouses where the 5,300 tons of U.S. beef are kept in a move to prevent it from being circulated. The authorities have dispatched police to block the unionists' access to the storehouses located south of Seoul.

Announcing the decision on the resumption of U.S. beef imports, Minister Chung disclosed a series of measures to enhance import quarantine control, country-of-origin rules, support for local cattle growers and improve the quality of Korean beef. He has promised to dispatch inspectors to U.S. abattoirs and meat packing plants to ferret out banned parts. But the people do not want to listen to these measures since the government has already lost public trust in its policies and the handling of state affairs.

Policymakers should keep in mind that the beef issue is not only a matter of food safety. It is the loss of public confidence that could lead to a leadership crisis. What's important is that the government should push its policies based on national consensus. It is time for President Lee and his ministers to make all-out efforts to restore public trust. They ought to learn a valuable lesson from the beef row in order to avoid a recurrence of their mistake.