In S. Korea, a Reversal on U.S. Beef Imports
Under Public Pressure as Poll Ratings Fall, New President Backs Off Plan to End Ban

By Blaine Harden
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, June 4, 2008

SEOUL, June 3 -- With his approval ratings hit hard by mass anxiety about American beef, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak backed away Tuesday from a wildly unpopular agreement to resume U.S. beef imports. He had personally approved the deal less than two months ago.

Lee's change of heart follows weeks of demonstrations by tens of thousands of South Koreans, many of them mothers with children in hand, angered that his government would expose them to the purported risks of mad cow disease.

"We have lost the public's confidence over this matter," Lee told his cabinet Tuesday, according to a spokesman.

Plunging poll numbers apparently also played a role in Lee's decision. In office just 100 days, he has seen his approval ratings sink below 20 percent, a historic low so early in a South Korean president's term.

His government asked the United States on Tuesday to refrain from shipping beef from animals that were more than 30 months old at the time of slaughter, which many people here believe raises the risk of mad cow infection.

Until the U.S. government complies, it appears that all beef imports will remain on hold.

"It is natural not to bring in meat from cattle 30 months of age and older as long as the people do not want it," said Lee, although he had agreed April 18 to allow U.S. beef imports regardless of age.

U.S. reaction was swift and negative.

"I can't deny that we're disappointed by this," said U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow. "We think that the agreement that our two governments reached in April is a good agreement, that it's based on international science, and there's no scientific justification to postpone implementation."

Vershbow added that the United States did not "see any need for renegotiation of the agreement" because it provides "very effective safeguards to ensure the health of Korean consumers." He also said that U.S. beef over 30 months old has been confirmed safe in many scientific tests.

Several leading U.S. beef companies said Monday that they would voluntarily begin labeling shipments to South Korea to indicate the age of cattle at the time of slaughter. But it appeared that this would not be enough to satisfy the Seoul government.

The ban that has substantially closed South Korea's market to American beef producers began after the first case of mad cow was confirmed in Washington state in 2003. Before then, South Korea was the third-largest importer of U.S. beef.

In April this year, Lee moved to lift the ban, without consulting many of his own advisers, his party or the public. He did so shortly before a meeting on trade with President Bush in Washington.

New public discontent quickly surfaced. Nearly two weeks ago, Lee apologized for failing to consider South Koreans' fears about mad cow disease. But until this week, his government had insisted it would stick with completely removing the U.S. beef ban.

Rescinding the ban is seen as essential for congressional approval of a long-delayed U.S.-South Korea free trade deal.

Lee, a former business executive known as "the Bulldozer," won the presidency by a huge margin last year on promises to rev up the economy. He has said ratifying the trade agreement would accelerate growth.

But his unilateral decision in April seemed to supercharge concern about U.S. beef. Lee's political opponents, left-leaning teachers unions and sensational media reports, as well as latent anti-Americanism, spurred consumer worries.

Rumors spread on the Internet that school lunch programs would be a dumping ground for cheap and potentially deadly American beef. Lee's government tried and largely failed to knock down the rumors and assorted alarmist media reports, one of which claimed Koreans were more genetically vulnerable to mad cow disease than Americans.

The government had science on its side. The risk of acquiring mad cow disease from U.S. beef -- whether it is older or younger than 30 months -- is all but nonexistent, scientists say.

But that did not sway the protesters. Worried parents and fearful schoolchildren took to the streets for candlelight vigils in Seoul, the capital, and other cities.

As the public anger grew, Lee was unmoved. "You don't have to eat American beef if you don't like it," he said last month.

Protests this past weekend were the largest and most violent. As more than 40,000 people gathered in front of Seoul City Hall on Saturday night, police used water cannons to stop them from marching on the president's office. More than 220 people were arrested.

Cha Yoon-min, 13, attended the protest with his mother, a lawyer in Seoul. "I am afraid of American beef," he said. "I could study hard in school. I could get a good job and then I could eat beef and just die."

Lee's conservative party, which controls parliament, is warning him to shake up his cabinet and jettison ministers associated in the public mind with U.S. beef. Officials expect changes later this week.

"The new president has been arrogant," said Kim Min-jung, a professor of international relations at the University of Seoul. "His track record as a successful CEO has failed to translate into political savvy, which is what he needs in working with the public."

More demonstrations took place Tuesday night, with about 20,000 protesters in the streets around City Hall. Lee is a former Seoul mayor.

One of the organizers, Kim Jin-il, said people were not satisfied with Lee's shift on beef. "We want him to renegotiate the agreement with the United States," Kim said. "We want him to be sincere. Until he is sincere, we will march."

Special correspondent Stella Kim contributed to this report.