New Delay on Beef Imports (and Renegotiation?)

The Lee Administration has decided to delay the resumption of U.S. beef imports (South Korea to delay renewed US beef imports, Kwang-Tae Kim, AP, June 2) and to approach the U.S. to renegotiate elements of the agreement to reopen its market (South Korea asks US to change beef import agreement, AP via the International Herald Tribune, June 3).  These actions follow large demonstrations over the weekend.

Evan Ramstad says the Lee Administration is off-balance, preparing to sack ministers and delaying other elements of its economic reform program: U.S. Beef Discord May Derail Agenda of Korea's President Lee (Asian Wall Street Journal, June 3).

Large protests made South Korean President Lee Myung-bak again postpone the restart of U.S. beef imports and could imperil his ability to drive the country's political agenda.

Mr. Lee prepared to fire cabinet ministers and to shelve some of his political goals to mollify opponents who have turned the beef matter into a national crisis....

The controversy is beginning to reshape Mr. Lee's broader agenda as the government on Monday temporarily halted privatization of a water agency and development planning for a proposed $15 billion canal that was a cornerstone of his election campaign last year. However, the country's financial regulator did move forward on its plan to privatize the government-owned Korea Development Bank.

As Ramstad notes, the controversy is hard to understand:

While political protests are common in South Korea, the backlash over U.S. beef has been surprising for its scale and relative lack of rationale.

Only three cases of mad-cow disease have been recorded in the U.S. and none entered the food chain for humans or animals. Three people have died in the U.S. from the human variant of the disease, though not from eating beef from U.S. cattle.

Shu-Ching Jean Chen in Hong Kong has some ideas about the reasons for the intense feelings among many Koreans (Beef Batters 'The Bulldozer', Forbes, June 2):

American beef has become an explosive issue for South Korea’s vocal consumer groups, led by an umbrella group called AntiMadCow. In addition to concerns over the brain-wasting disease, South Korean consumers fear that mislabeling will lead to a situation where they won't be able to be sure of the provenance of beef....

Lee’s hands were tied by the political climate in the U.S., where Congress tied the ratification of a landmark U.S.-South Korea free-trade agreement to the resumption of beef imports. He is regarded as having kowtowed to U.S. interests at the expense of ordinary South Koreans on an explosive issue.

His perceived weakness abroad has been compounded by a lack of sensitivity and consensus-building at home. He has been seen as trying to run roughshod over the public on the issue, in keeping with the vaunted "bulldozer" leadership style he developed in the business world as head of the construction arm of Hyundai Group. (See: "Bulldozer In The Driver's Seat")

So: concerns over the beef, national pride, and clumsy public relations.  And I'd add an opposition that saw an opportunity to fan public concerns and claw back some of its influence following elections in which it had lost the Presidency and the National Assembly.

Comments

[Hugh Fox]

I quote this post in my own post about Korea at:

http://foxhugh.wordpress.com/2008/07/12/no-19-inch-computer-bags-in-korea/

I think the protests are hubris pure and simple and the gods punish hubris.