Most of the country is opposed to resuming American beef imports and yet the government is going ahead with its plans anyway, making you seriously wonder just who this government exists for in the first place.

The government says that through an “additional agreement” it is going to make sure that beef from cows older than 30 months at time of slaughter will not be imported. That includes four parts at particular risk of carrying mad cow disease: brain, eye, spinal cord, and skull

from cows that are younger than 30 months of age.

Most Koreans, however, do not think the safety of American beef can be guaranteed by the voluntary self-regulation of American exporters. In the past, when there was an export certification program backed by the U.S. federal government, there was a time when more than 50 percent of beef imported from the U.S. was found to contain bone chips. How, then, is one supposed to believe in voluntary private regulation with far less U.S. federal government involvement? Also, risk materials like intestines and spine are from beef of cows under 30 months old are still going to be entering the country.

This is why it is only a matter of course that the majority of the country wants to postpone the resumption of American beef imports and get a renegotiated beef deal. The country is ill at ease about this, so it is dictatorial thinking and a direct challenge against the people to go ahead and resume imports with this “additional agreement.”

Seeing as how, right after the additional deal was arranged, the government said it would not move to hastily allow the resumption of imports, only to suddenly announce that it will be doing so, one sees signs that instead of putting consideration for the people first, the government has either tried to make the Untied States happy with it or allowed itself to be pulled around on the issue. It has been revealed that the U.S. side asked that the official government announcement and the disclosure of the agreement document be linked. This explains why the government has not shown the agreement to the Korean people. It makes sense that during the additional round of talks the United States would set as a precondition of sorts a demand that the formal announcement about resuming imports be done early on, because by doing so it would be able to have its beef enter the Korean market again without further losses or concessions.

Why does our government exist, and for whom? It simply must put the Korean public’s interests first, giving consideration to which parts should be bought and which shouldn’t, and when beef should be purchased again by the people. It should go without saying that it needs to gain the people’s consent in the course of doing that. How can people trust in a government that is most desperate about satisfying the United States, without going through this kind of process and without an adequate attempt to convince the public it is doing the right thing? It would have to be more than a little serious for calls to delay announcing the resumption of imports coming even from within the president’s own ruling party. One worries about the future of this government.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]