May I ask how long you watched the fights here at the Hole before deciding to join in?

ahh fuck it.

You win. Trust no one. Ban meat. Eat pesticide laden veggies.

“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.

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.

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).

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.

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)

“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.

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.