The Mad Cow Demonstrations of South Korea were a thing of legend for which we are only beginning to pay for but demonstrations over U.S. beef exports and BSE are still a hot issue in East Asia. Taiwan’s legislature has voted to ban certain U.S. beef imports due to concern for safety:
. . . Taiwan’s legislature (vote) comes amid fears of mad cow disease, and criticism that President Ma Ying-jeou’s government failed to consult the legislature or the public before lifting a partial ban on US beef in October. . . .The issue has strained Taiwan’s ties with the US, even as the
self-ruled island moves ever closer into China’s economic orbit with a
series of cross-strait commercial deals. Taiwan legislators
reached a consensus last week to revise a food law to ban the import of
US ground beef, offal, and other beef products seen as posing a greater
health risk. That drew unusually harsh criticism from Washington,
which accuses Taiwan of overturning an October deal that was signed
after extensive negotiations and study . . .Park Kie-Duck, former president of South Korea’s independent Sejong
Institute, says anti-US beef protests were led by Web-savvy students who
spread fears online. But the issue has resonated more broadly in East
Asia because of countries’ worry that their traditional agrarian
identities are under threat. “We see the agricultural industry as a
kind of strategic industry, and people want to keep that industry
safe,” says Mr. Park. “That’s why this issue is so sensitive.”.1
This sounds *very* familiar, doesn’t it? It does not help either when new cases of BSE are discovered yet kept secret.
Criticism has been leveled at government bodies and extra steps to test imports have been established in Taiwan as well.2
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
I have always been impressed with this blog. Top notch in many respects. But using a Huffington Post citizen report! Yikes! There goes the neighborhood. Don’t get me wrong keep up the bizarre stories from random blogs that make us all laugh. But try to source the more serious stories with better sources than Huffington Post. Just because the Enquirer broke the John Edwards cheating on his wife story , it doesn’t mean I rely on it for real news.
How about this link then since you are so picky:
http://www.madcowblog.com/2010/03/articles/mad-cow-updates/17th-mad-cow-found-in-canada/
It has the same facts, but I found the report in the huffington put the information in context to the actual situation better.
I wouldn’t say I’m picky….just got standards.
Not that anyone cares or has even heard of the Sejong Institute, but despite its constant efforts to portray itself as an independent think tank, it is nothing of the sort. It’s president is appointed by Chong Wa Dae, and it’s 100 percent funded by the government. There’s nothing “independent” about it.
And for anyone nostalgic for the now largely discredited Sunshine Policy, look no farther. It’s intellectual foundations were crafted at this (until recently) very pro-North Korea, very leftist think tank.
DLB
The Australian government has also recently agreed to extend the ban on US and Canadian beef amid fears of mad cow disease coming from *conservative* (Liberal Party) Member of Parliaments and the media.
Funny how Australia managed to strike a FTA with the US.
Because they got it signed up before Obama got into power… now even non-auto producing Colombia can’t get an FTA through…
I wouldn’t go as far as to call them “pro-North Korean.” It was definitely very pro-engagement, and its analysis of North Korea was often questionable, but they weren’t Jucheists, if that’s what you were suggesting. Former Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok was one of the big guys down there.
The Sejong Institute does not completely lack diversity. Its current head, under the 2MB administration, is former Air Force Chief of Staff Song Dae Sung. But Song himself was all but persona non grata during the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun years, and during this time I think it is fair to say that Sejong was quite pro-North Korea.
This is not to say they were jucheists or fifth-columnists, but the Institute’s legacy of pro-North sympathies and biases is clear. Ironic, then, that the Institute sits on the grounds of the old Ilche Foundation, which was once meant to be the retirement home of former President Chun Doo Hwan, who had hoped to call the shots behind the scenes of the Roh Tae-woo administration before everything went to hell in 1987…for the better, of course.
DLB
Miscomments:
1. A student from Taiwan, a rather angry woman in her 20′s, “explained” Taiwan’s beef to me last month. It was stunning how much she sounded just like Koreans from two years ago. Same arguments, same emotions.
2. Obama has stated his administration will not support new FTA’s with individual countries, but rather is in favor of regional agreements. I’m just happy someone is finally saying “no” to Korea’s one-way free trade.
3. Why knock the Huffington Post? Corporate media lost its credibility and its usefulness over WMD’s in the selling of the Iraq War. Internet news sources can’t be worse than the military-industrial-media guys.
By the way, quite sometime in Seoul without a nice, thick, robust demonstration to screw up traffic and life.
What is going on? Koreans lacking the demonstration mojo these days? Or now, nobody steps on the new Gwanghwamun walking for protests?
Just wondering what’s going on…
Yes, you are right “Max” but the plaza in front of the admiral’s statue is looking rather tacky lately. Compare Robert’s nice night-time shot of the statue with how it looks now. What is that big glassy cube shape in front of the statue doing there!? It’s a bloody eyesore.
Considering the influence of FTA agreements with the U.S. in the eastern Asian region, I wonder if some other third party has been helping to stoke some of the concerns about BSE as well? Considering the heretofore anonymous nature of the internet, it may not be far-fetched to wonder about the role of foreign interests in promoting viral marketing techniques to spread disinformation — not that the U.S. Beef industry is a paragon of virtue either. Those guys alone are enough to dissuade me from eating American beef.
3. Why knock the Huffington Post? Corporate media lost its credibility and its usefulness over WMD’s in the selling of the Iraq War. Internet news sources can’t be worse than the military-industrial-media guys
Don’t get me wrong, I’m no fan of the MSM. As I pointed out they were scooped by the Enquirer with the John Edward story. I’d give you a hundred other reasons not to trust some of their reporting. I think some Internet news sources are far superior to many MSM outlets. I think it is safe to say the Huffington post is not one of them.
“By the way, quite sometime in Seoul without a nice, thick, robust demonstration to screw up traffic and life.
What is going on?”
The US DOD pulled AFN-K off-air broadcasts; no more daily US military TV seeping into the general public mindset. That’s not all of it, but I think it’s created a major shift in attitude towards the US in Korea. It’s also made a huge difference in the perception first time visitors develop when they land in a hotel room in Seoul/Korea.
@14,
Soooooo, DoD pulled their military broadcasts from Korean stations and attitudes improved? What kind of crap were they broadcasting in the first place?
“Soooooo, DoD pulled their military broadcasts from Korean stations and attitudes improved? What kind of crap were they broadcasting in the first place?”
I think he’s talking about the general perception of an occupied country. Though my quality of life in Korea certainly declined when I lost Jay & Dave & Craig and was left with non-subtitled Korean dramas and soccer.
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