Also in the JoongAng Ilbo, it appears the kiddies are taking full part in the anti-US beef festivities, with university, high school and middle school students taking part in signature campaigns and candlelight protests against the evil mi (美) chinso.
The JoongAng — no doubt saving it for later use against the Korean Teachers Union — cherrypicked some comments made by one high school senior at yesterday’s protest at the Cheonggyecheon. Getting up on stage, the student said, “Has the United States taken everything from us? It seems North Korea’s Kim Jong-il is greater. Wouldn’t it be better to stand up to the United States like North Korea?” He also said, “‘Doing it our own way.’ Doesn’t that sound nice?”
Well, I guess it does sound kind of nice — if there’s one problem North Korea doesn’t have, it’s excess imported US beef laying around.
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76 Comments
“When keeping it real goes wrong.”
That idiot of a Korean student is right; that Kim Jong-ill would never accept anything but the best for his people!
What a vapid moron.
# 2,
Hey, cut him some slack. He’s a kid. It’s the adults that fill his head with such nonsense that are the vapid morons.
That kid is just a pawn. The KTU is the source.
The kid’s name must be Mongo.
Because when one country wants to give you cheap, affordable, delicious meat, your only choice in order to maintain your national pride is to refuse.
Have the U.S. bogeyman as the purveyor of all ills is so much easier than having a good long look in the mirror.
Citizens that do not understand the principles of their own government, and by their ignorance of historic fact, undermine the effectiveness of their own society, are poor citizens and this example of ignorance is the result of coddling teachers that have betrayed the best interests of their nation and society.
Just what does a government do that has allowed rot to set into their educational system?
And once they’re gone………..1,2,3,come back!!All is forgiven!
What kind of country forbids a decent burger?(And titty mags)
I think we need to explain this to the children in the most succinct way possible. “If Kim Jong Il was your leader, there would be no PC Bangs.”
Or maybe, “If Kim Jong Il was your leader, you would never get into a good university. What would your mother do?”
Don’t forget that in Korea protesting is just something students do as a rite of passage. Its a flavor of the month thing. I have asked a number of adults if they protested while in school. They all said yes. I asked them what about, almost all of them couldn’t remember. It was simply going to a football match and being part of a group consciousness. I recall during the “IMF” era running into a group protesting Coca-Cola. Why? Just because I guess. I don’t think it is worth reading too much into student protests in Korea, the topic is almost always just todays fad.
edit: like going to a football match
#3
I generally used to take youthful protesters in any country with a grain of salt, but part of protesting and taking a stand on an issue is that your argument is going to be scrutinized. If this kid thinks Korea should have a leader like Kim Jong-il, he is an idiot. I know that some teacher along the way had to teach him that, but he none the less believes it and is willing to tell yell it to the world. People need be called on saying something stupid, a youngster or not.
Ignoramuses created by the previous generation of ignoramuses.
#14 - Ignoramuses, or ignorami?
I like how everyone on this discussion thread is actually taking that kid seriously…(and how the most frequent newspaper sources I see at Marmot are JoongAng, DongA and Chosun…)
Out of all the peacefully protesting young students that were there, they just had to use that particular comment.
Perhaps this link fits with the current trashing of Korean teachers. The table on page 2 shows that Korea’s teachers top the OECD in salary/per capita GDP; that is, they are paid more relative to the nation’s wealth than other developed countries.
http://www.oecdwash.org/NEWS/L.....ec2003.pdf
Don’t forget the Hanki, Baedol. It’s often good for a laugh, too.
Right, because God knows, the Hankyoreh, Kyunghyang and Seoul Shinmun NEVER cherrypick comments…
Hey, at least I noted the JoongAng WAS cherrypicking.
“Out of all the peacefully protesting young students that were there, they just had to use that particular comment.”
It’s that they were so many people protesting something as unimportant as this that is bothering a lot of folks. I would love to see this kind of passion and energy behind something like, oh I don’t know, the suffering of the South’s brethren in the North.
Someone IS ‘teaching’ these kids this shit, whether it be the media or their teachers.
I had a high school boy tell me today (in his not good English) that ‘Koreans are weak’. I asked him why and he explained that they can’t eat American beef because they’ll get sick. Who fills their head with such nonsense is the question. His English wasn’t good enough to explain to me where he heard this.
In reply to his statement I simply told him I buy Australian beef, because American is too fatty (and they use growth hormones in a lot of it) and that I rarely eat Korean beef because it’s full of antibiotics.
#17: And that’s not even including the white envelopes to ensure Junior gets extra special treatment.
“Baedol” it is not the kid that should be taken seriously but the fact that someone is teaching unscientific, unpatriotic garbage in public schools here and no critical skills and that is bad for the country.
Is this kid a common example of the kind of students public schools are producing here!?
That kid’s comment is VERY Hankyoreh in its emotional, nativist and naive sympathy for the purported independence of North Korea.
#3,
Done not attribute to the impetuousness of youth that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.
MBC is also part of the big problem. Everyday for the last 2 weeks they’ve been reporting on the Mad Cow, fanning the fear. They keep showing clips of the British mad cows going down (over 15 years ago), and hidden videos by US Humane Society. They also keep quoting US Human Society officials.
Some of the bizzar rumors that Koreans believe in include “Americans don’t eat American beef. Eighty percent of beef on sale are Australian beef”.
It’s one forward and two steps backwards in Korea. Looking from abroad, I can’t help but to think it’s really too bad Koreans can’t think beyond the square box. Korean media keeps on bringing in Japan and Taiwan . They say those two countries don’t have the same deals as Korea, so why Korea is the only one liberalizing beef like this. Well… Japan and Taiwan aren’t negotiating a Free Trade with the US. These people are clueless as to how the world works when they demand beef renegotiation with the US.
The contract was signed, it’s over.
“Some of the bizzar rumors that Koreans believe in include “Americans don’t eat American beef. Eighty percent of beef on sale are Australian beef”.”
Yeah, one of my students mentioned that one. I’m sure Australian beef is imported to the US…but to say that 80% of beef sold in the US is Australian. Who buys all the American beef?
Correction to #25…
“Do not…”
Is the beef on beef and combo pizzas sold by Costco coming from American cows? Where are the pizzas pre-made? I wonder if American beef has been slipping into South Korea through this crack.
Hey! Don’t forget that KJI is in fact saving the Norks from the perils of eating too much even as we debate this topic!!
Korea needs a new catalyst for growth. They need the FTA with the US. The way they’re going right now, future prosperity is in doubt. Unfortunately the current generation of leadership in all society don’t have any clue. Hopefully in about 20 years when the younger generation who’ve studied abroad come to take the reign, ROK will truly think beyond Korea. The only thing is though, by then it may be too late. It’s really sad to see a country with so much potential, not being able to fulfill their potential because the enemy is themselves.
#23. I’m just annoyed that everyone’s homing in on how ’stupid’ the people can be rather than how atrociously the government has dealt with the entire issue.
I’m just annoyed that everyone is homing in on how ’stupid’ the people can be rather than how atrociously the government has dealt with this issue so far.
Hasn’t protectionism, gullible media and emotional campaigns against imports been a constant hallmark of the ROK since the GATT negotiation days 20 years ago, regardless of which government is in power?
sometimes i find stuff like this amusing…..but as a korean american…..i get really sad sometimes.
why is korea going back towards 1st world?
That’s a persistent thing, this adoration of Kim because he “stands up” (as much as a 5-foot-nothing fellow can) to the roundeyes.
What Koreans who spout that tripe fail to realize is that the only reason Li’l Kim can mouth off to the U.S. Is because the U.S. is unwilling to sacrifice the lives of those same South Koreans. Otherwise, Kim would have gone the way of Noriega or Saddam years ago.
Breen nails this issue well, in the unlikely forum of the Korea Times:
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/ww.....23870.html
I have never seen Australian beef in any local supermarket. I have seen Australian lamb and Australian cheese. Since domestically raised grass-fed beef is available, and the people that spend extra on it tend to be locavores, there isn’t much of a market for Australian beef.
#34. If that was a response to my comment, then you’ve missed my point; I was referring to how the government responded to the protests and fears voiced.
-Instead of immediately presenting some Concrete Information backed by scientific evidence to rebut the rumours, they blustered and came out with ridiculous guff like “I eat American beef too.” No, this is not going to make the people feel better. They want a specific reason why you didn’t impose any restrictions, when you could.
-They started pressing down on the protests, calling them illegal. Know what happens when you repress people? They bounce back up. They’ve been through three consecutive murderous presidents and the last thing you want to do is make them remember those Eras again (but already done that, so moving on…).
-They started to look for someone to blame for the students who came to the protests. For god’s sake, you should have red light bulbs flashing like crazy in your head when you’ve got fifteen-year-olds out in the streets for a cause. You don’t look for someone to blame because it’s fucking your fault. They needed an explanation for this, you didn’t offer one, so they set out to get one.
-Neither the young students nor PD 수첩 are the source of these ‘gwedam’ (groundless rumours) here. The conservative party was the most enthusiastic critics of US beef importation during Roh’s government. And it seems that in March 2007, DongAh was the first to print the idea from the Korean professor that Koreans are more susceptible to beef (http://www.donga.com/fbin/output?n=200703230038). JoongAng also highlighted the danger for BSE and vCJD in August 2007 (http://article.joins.com/article/article.asp?total_id=2817375, http://article.joins.com/artic.....id=2813957, http://article.joins.com/artic.....id=2919095)
All of them have completely switched bandwagons now, of course, and everyone has noticed. Again, doesn’t exactly instill trust when all the newspapers that are saying ‘American beef is fine!’ were the ones that used to criticize it.
@39,
What makes you think its the governments fault? This is the work of the liberal/confucius party. They still have remnants that are loyal not to mention for the last 10 years these children have been raised on propaganda.
These kids who are protesting now were most likely 5-6 when the liberals came into power. Nearly their entire school career has been under the control of the liberals.
The liberals start all this nonsense, silently and then what the US is to blame? LMB is to blame? Its neither its the liberals.
We have a group of children who are incapable of thinking for themselves and when the very same people who started this problem tell the kids “oh we have a problem now”.
Your absolutely right, we should see the red flashing lights because these kids dont know anything. Do they know what they protesting about? Not a chance. What we should be alarmed about is the level of deception liberals are going through to keep the population stupid and dependent on the people in power for thought and opinion.
What we have effectively is the liberals using their own incompetence as a tool. They turn around and blame Taiwan, Japan, US, fucking everyone that intuition might suggest.
And then they conveniently offer themselves as the solution when they are the problem.
The real people who are to blame are the fucking liberals. Who fucking else starts a “Sunshine and Rainbows” policy with the worst dictator in the world?
Many Korean teachers preach anti-Americanin/Japanism (xeophobia in general) in their classrooms. That sums it all up for me.
Don’t believe me, do a Google search and find out for yourselves.
I hope one day Korea will look to the US for something, but the US will be gone.
Great allie Korea is I tells ya!
#36,
There’s more than one way to measure the greatness of a man…Not to suggest that Kim Jong il is a great man in any way.
I know I put out a lot of this “Nothing new under the sun” stuff, but really, this whole ordeal follows a familiar pattern.
It finally hit me a few years ago. There was talk of the US closing one of their army bases here. I figured the Korean response would be ecstatic: after all, aren’t they always grumbling about how awful the US army presence is? Actually, the news stories I read only talked about how the cold-hearted US military was seeking to damage the hard-working Koreans of the booze and brothel industry by packing up and leaving. You can’t make this stuff up.
There is nothing the US can do in their relationship with Korea that will avoid bitter criticism from the masses. And like Hamilton said, “The masses are asses.”
#38,
Yes, the point I was making. I’m sure there’s a niche market for it, but 80% of the beef sold in the US? Australia produces about 26 million heads of cattle a year (beef and dairy), clearly not enough to feed Australians (35% of beef production consumed domestically) and make up 80% of the beef consumed in the US.
#44,
The old dirty tricks that were used by the former dictatorship to manipulate public opinion are still very clear in the minds of the dinosaurs who run this country. Be patient. They’ll soon be extinct.
#40 The education system has been screwed up for much, much more than a decade, I assure you. I compare what I went through with what my father went through in the 60-70s and the results are startlingly similar (thankfully my father is perfectly capable of thinking for himself). The violence may not be as rampant as it used to be but the flagrant infringement on students’ rights has been there since god-knows-when, and it has stayed.
I’m not saying that the ‘liberals’ have done a good job with education; far from it. I’ve been through Korean middle and high school and I know what it’s like (though the conservatives hardly seem to be doing better on education…school autonomy? I ask you!). I was criticizing the fact that the government could not immediately explain their actions during the negotiations (i.e. why they completely gave up on restrictions when they could have imposed them); the fact of the matter is, they didn’t do their job, which was to make the beef they imported as safe as possible.
Admittedly these young students seem to be exceedingly susceptible to exaggerated rumours, but considering that the source of these rumours is (at least in part) the conservative party (during Roh’s government) and the conservative newspapers 조중동 (and, to some extent, the FDA, which did prohibit the use of cattle-derived materials in cosmetics - I think this may be the source for “vCJD can be passed on through make-up and menustrual pads and everything!!” panic), is it really unreasonable that everyone has flipped?
Look, I’d be the first to agree that our education system needs to help students think for themselves, but I’m just appalled at the idea that Everything is the Liberals’ Fault. Conservatives and Liberals are both fuck-ups, in my opinion. And do you really think the students are out there just because of mad cow disease? It’s the new school policies from the Lee government that have outraged them and frustrated them; the ones that let schools do what they want (as if they didn’t have enough power already!) and keep those poor kids at their school desks for 14-16 hours a day, create superior/inferior classes (that for some reason take the same exams) etc. The way I see it, these protests are just the outlet where that frustration finally boiled over.
“(i.e. why they completely gave up on restrictions when they could have imposed them)”
There are restrictions.
“…is it really unreasonable that everyone has flipped?”
No. Not when you consider the tactics the pinkos used. Targeting children as a tool to mobilize the parents for example.
What restrictions? According to the April 18 Accord, the imported American beef has no age restrictions (therefore we’ll be getting beef both over and under 30 months), and five out of the seven SRM (specified risk material) parts from the under-30 month cows (and how do we know that the age-auditing system will be accurate? and how well will the inspection be conducted?)
@27, 38
My coworkers told me how McDonald’s uses Australian beef exclusively in US McDonald’s, because McDonald’s doesn’t trust US beef. He was sure about this. He saw it on the (Korean) news or the (Korean) internet or something.
I say we are long overdue for a massive vrackdown on liberals. The former liberal laders, with Roh at the forefrong should be arrested and imprisoned. Liberal teachers should be arrested and imprisoned for spreading pro-NK propaganda, this kid should be forced to spill the beans on who taught him such crap. Its still illegal to spread NK propaganda and whoever put that in his head broke the law. arrestm imprison, destroy. I would love a massive government crackdown on the commie libs in this country. Destroy careers, ruin lives. Weed out this cancer once and for all.
Maddog, you should lay off teh maddog befroe you posst.
@49
The act of not trusting the restrictions or that the belief that the restrictions are not restrictive enough, does not preclude their existence.
#50, what do you expect when a cow-orker starts worrying about mad-cow disease? Just tell him to stop orking those cows.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
#53
Fair enough, I’ll correct what I’ve written to: “(i.e. why they imposed such flimsy restrictions when they could have imposed more concrete and dependable ones)”
Goodness, that does look much better/
Damn Maddog! Your last name isn’t McCarthy, is it?
I got caught in the same trap another day on another blog (damn you Sonagi!
)and my revision also looked better hehe.
Well it seems like the transparency is in place as as the government is able to audit the production in the US anytime they want. But I suppose, given the history of fraudulent packaging in Korea, people may have it in them to not trust the accuracy of the labeling on imported meat.
The restrictions are pretty standard as far as I can tell. Many countries have relaxed the ban on US beef to include the 30 month beef as well (which is in compliance with OIE standards).
On the other hand, the current administration pissed away a huge political opportunity by not upping the internationally accepted standards for domestic consumption.
Well it seems like the transparency is in place as as the government is able to audit the production in the US anytime they want. But I suppose, given the history of fraudulent packaging in Korea, people may have it in them to not trust the accuracy of the labeling on imported meat.
The restrictions are pretty standard as far as I can tell. Many countries have relaxed the ban on US beef to include the 30 month beef as well (which is in compliance with OIE standards).
…sources? Esp. the ‘many countries’ part is very interesting…OIE standards are really just the bare minimum standards, as far as I can tell. And if our government can audit US production whenever (again, sources?), exactly how often will they do that? So far, considering all the bone fragments that has been found in American beef in the past year, the US hasn’t exactly been a stickler with beef regulations has it?
“So far, considering all the bone fragments that has been found in American beef in the past year, the US hasn’t exactly been a stickler with beef regulations has it?”
Those were probably planted there to sabotage earlier plans to re-open the beef market. Inspection of U.S. beef is topnotch.
http://www.rjkoehler.com/2006/.....ment-plot/
Not sure if I link many it will get by the spam bot…
Quick google revealed Canada (2006:agriview.com) and Japan (Dec 2007 Bloomberg) will be more in compliance with OIE.
The Philippines, however(from same Bloomberg source), is the only Asian nation to adhere to the OIE standards as they are.
From the NY Times, Japan has kept the ban on some things fully in place as they, rightfully, think the US testing system is a load of crap (my paraphrase of course).
The EU ban is more of a result of using hormones than the BSE scare.
“Mexico ended its ban on many beef products imported from the United States, like boneless cuts from animals under 30 months old and veal from animals under nine months old. Mexico held firm, however, on its ban of live calves and cattle from the United States.
The announcement by Mexico was seen as an important first step in restoring the $3.6 billion export market for beef, veal and variety meats that disappeared after the discovery of the case of mad cow disease
”This sends a very good signal when officials of our second-largest beef market have made the determination that our beef is safe — that it is now time to resume trade,” said J.B. Penn, the under secretary of agriculture for farm and foreign agricultural services. ” NY Times
In response to the materials getting through the ban…there are errors in any production. A fingernail sized piece of cartilage in a 10 ton shipment is hardly unexpected and the subsequent quarantines could be seen as just another in a long list of non-tariff trade barriers.
Mexico, Canada, Korea, and Japan made up for more than 90% of all US beef exports pre 2003 - hence the focus on their markets.
Will try a few of the links in next post.
http://www.usmef.org/TradeLibrary/Statistics.asp
http://www.ers.usda.gov/news/BSECoverage.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5219650.stm (different from listed Bloomberg but basically the same)
http://www.agriview.com/articl.....ucer03.txt
Some 70-100 countries make up the last 10% from what I was able to find.
Yeah…link post got the axe.
One interesting site (will only do one link) is here
http://www.usmef.org/TradeLibrary/Statistics.asp
I’m sorry, a U.S. official ‘thinking’ that these bone fragments were planted really does not do anything for me (and I can’t get to the original link). That’s little better than a Korean ‘thinking’ that the replay function on the MBC PD수첩 website was disabled on purpose by the government.
Errors in production are to be expected, but the bone fragments disocvered in 2006-2007 weren’t really just one or two, but seven in one batch, and that was just 10 boxes out of 651: http://news.empas.com/show.tsp.....%3C%2Fb%3E
“Inspection of U.S. beef is topnotch.”
- Indeed, so ‘topnotch’ that only 0.1% of the cattle are inspected (Japan inspects 100% of their cattle; this might be why there have been as many as 30 instances of BSE discovered in Japan, while only 3 instances have been discovered in the US). Source: http://news.empas.com/show.tsp.....%3C%2Fb%3E
#59
I’m sorry, a US government official ‘thinking’ that the bone fragment was planted really does not do anything for me. That’s like a Korean thinking that the government pressured MBC to restrict the re-viewing function on PD 수첩.
Yes, US beef inspection is so topnotch that they inspect about 0.1% of the entire cattle population (Japan inspects 100%, which may explain why Japan has discovered 30 instances of BSE while the US has identified 3).
source:”Currently, the U.S. government tests only 1 percent of the roughly 100,000 cattle slaughtered daily. The USDA is planning to reduce daily testing for mad cow disease by 90 percent. It has not been confirmed whether the plan has been implemented, but the revised plan calls for testing only 0.11 percent, or about 110, of the 100,000 cattle tested daily.” (http://news.empas.com/show.tsp/cp_kt/20061203n04870/?kw=fragment%20%3Cb%3E%26%3C%2Fb%3E)
#60
It’s not just one or two fragments getting through the production. That could be expected. But in December 2006 the Quarantine service found seven fragments in just 10 boxes out of 651, a 10.2 ton shipment in total. They didn’t bother to inspect the other 641 - god knows how many fragments they might have found then. Not exactly a good - let alone perfect - record, is it?
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/ww....._7596.html
I’m not McCarthy….
ROK still has laws on the books and these laws could be used nicely to go after these leftist propaganda spreading teachers. I would love to have a crackdown, complete with mass arrests and convictions under the Security Laws of not only teachers but also the rabid pro-NK labor unions and the pro-Pyongyang far left political groups. SK desperately needs a strong purge of these elements which are pretty much weakening the very fabric of this country.
This student should be made to give up whoever taught him this crap, and if he doesnt, blacklist him and ruin him and his family.
Its time to chop off the left.
#60
Oh please. In December 2006 Quarantine services found seven fragments in 10 boxes out of 651. How much more would they have found if they had inspected all 651 boxes, I wonder? In August 2007 they found vertebral column packages, which are specific risk materials.
#59
I’m sorry, a US government official ‘thinking’ that the bone fragments were planted really doesn’t do anything for me. It’s little better than Koreans ‘thinking’ that the government pressured MBC to restrict re-viewings of PD수첩.
And by ‘topnotch’ inspection do you mean 0.1% inspection of the entire cattle population? Because that’s what the US inspection system does; about 110 cattle for every 100,000 slaughtered each day. It’s notable that Japan inspects 100% of their cattle; perhaps this might account for why 30 instances of BSE were discovered in Japan while only 3 were identified in the US.
#63, I’m sure the inspections of the 0.1% are topnotch!
Look, inspection of meat is a depressing process. Even if you do the job well, all you’ll get is bad news. Will anyone remember the 99,000+ animals that weren’t infected that day? No, just the ones that had some problem. Things are fine just the way it is.
Did anyone see that story on the news yesterday exposing foreign substances that looked like pieces of shrapnel in Korean McDonald hamburgers? Naturally, the first thought that occurs to a critical thinker is who “discovered” it?
Spare me the dramatics.
“In December 2006 Quarantine services found seven fragments in 10 boxes out of 651. How much more would they have found if they had inspected all 651 boxes, I wonder?”
I have no idea what you are trying to say here. You state that they found fragments (like a fingernail size?) in 10 of the 651 boxes. This implies that the 651 boxes were inspected. You then go on to wonder what would be found if all 651 were inspected. Huh?
So what you are saying is that the first 10 boxes (how big is a box??) all had fragments of some sort in them and they quit there?
The spine was pretty bad and a genuine cause for concern - but it is really the only case worth mentioning that I can recall. Bone fragments were found in the first three batches (7 being the number from the 3rd batch). A Korean official was quoted as saying:
“I heard that the U.S. also conducted an X-ray test _ on the third batch _ before shipment,’’ Kang said. “The possibility that the U.S. failed to detect the bone fragments is high because they were so thin.’’
Non-tariff trade barrier. Plain and simple.
If not, would you actually advocate a zero tolerance policy on imports? Could that be applied to all Korean products going into the US (or other countries) as well? Reciprocity is a bitch (a lesson that Korea will probably learn in the near future from China - the US is too pussy to do so).
@64
“Things are fine just the way it is.”
I disagree. The testing in the US needs to be more comprehensive if not for concerns of safety, then at least for the political aspect.
@65
Looking for the payoff. It is good to see that the agency went in and took a random sample of frozen patties.
If these fragments are found to be true (from the sample of frozen patties taken from the restaruant), I wonder who the protesters will take it out on - McD’s or Aussie beef?
(notwithstanding that the meat is processed here in Korea by Koreans)
“Did anyone see that story on the news yesterday exposing foreign substances that looked like pieces of shrapnel in Korean McDonald hamburgers? Naturally, the first thought that occurs to a critical thinker is who “discovered” it?”
When I was in college (in the U.S.), I nearly broke a tooth when I bit into a hamburger and accidentally chomped on a bone fragment. I’ve also bitten into small rocks that were in the beef. I didn’t go to the media with it, but I stopped eating beef for a long time after that.
#66: “I disagree. The testing in the US needs to be more comprehensive if not for concerns of safety, then at least for the political aspect.”
Unnecessary. If some batch of beef has some major problems, random sampling will catch it and then they can do more thorough testing. Minor problems are less likely to be caught this way, but they’re minor problems.
100% inspections only do two things: raise the price of American beef, making it less competitive, and over-employing meat inspectors. Following the money trail, I’m guessing you either are on the payroll of one of America’s beef competitors or the Meat Inspectors Union.
“Non-tariff trade barrier. Plain and simple.”
I love how you like to simplify things into short phrases. Because life is just like that.
…Jokes aside, no, zero tolerance doesn’t really work for imports, but sometimes it may be necessary. Never say never, eh? Like the US toy companies sending back Chinese toys that contained lead. There should be a mechanism that allows Korea to protect itself should a tragedy occur, but as things stand right now in the accord, there isn’t one. Even if vCJD or BSE occurs in the US, it is uncertain whether the Korean government could immediately stop the imports (the accord states that should such a situation occur, the OIE has to lower the US’s BSE status before Korea can stop imports).
I’d also like to remind you (for the second/third/fourth time) that when the bone fragments were discovered (during the Roh administration), it was the Conservatives who were the most vocal critics of the Roh government’s ‘lax’ stance toward American beef. The Roh government actually had enough justification to halt all imports once the vertebrae packages were found, but they didn’t (despite conservative criticism).
Why do you feel the need to remind of something that is pretty much a universal occurrence? The opposition says shit to bring down the ruling party and ends up doing the same shit when they get in power. Perhaps you can remind me how the conservatives and conservative supporters used fear and tales of doom based on no factual evidence? Seriously…I can’t remember what exactly their criticism was.
As for some sort of formal mechanism not being in the accord…who the hell cares? If there were some problems in the US, the government should and probably will stop all imports again (as stated by Lee). I also believe that there is a loophole in the GATT that the Korean side is looking into as well.
Cant finish…no time.
Whaddya mean, who the hell cares? Though it’s pretty damn obvious you don’t care.
“If there were some problems in the US, the government should and probably will stop all imports again (as stated by Lee).”
Hmmm..is that like the time when the government promised that they would punish the violent Chinese protesters…and then didn’t? (I’m slightly incredulous that you actually believe that the government will do what it says it will do. And you call Korean students gullible.) Of course the government should stop all imports, but will it actually do so? Too often there are things that it should do and does not, a screamingly obvious case being this whole negotiation on beef. The US has made it pretty clear that renegotiation is not an option, and the institution of a special law that would allow the Korean government to override the accord doesn’t seem very probable.
Even if the government does try to stop the imports because of problems in the US, it would be so much easier (not to mention legal) to have an official mechanism in the accord. Which it doesn’t.
I don’t care that they (the opposition) are protesting - that is to be expected. The “ends justify the means” mentality is what I don’t like..
ahh fuck it.
You win. Trust no one. Ban meat. Eat pesticide laden veggies.
Congratulations, Baedol.
May I ask how long you watched the fights here at the Hole before deciding to join in?