hankyoreh

A case of mad cow disease was just discovered in the United States, the first in six years. When the first case there was found in Dec. 2003, the South Korean government immediately halted US beef imports. The second and third cases occurred before imports were resumed in 2008.
South Koreans have responded very keenly to this. Indeed, we can get some sense of how sensitive the response has been from the fact that some department stores and supermarkets have independently halted sales of US beef, even though the government has yet to announce any measures.
The US government promptly announced an atypical case of mad cow (BSE) would have no effect on its World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) standing as a “controlled risk” country and should not affect its beef trade. This means it intends to continue exporting beef regardless of the disease’s discovery. The US authorities expressed gratitude to the countries that didn’t stop their imports in spite of BSE.
Seoul’s response was tepid. Far from ordering any immediate quarantine inspection suspensions, all it has done is announce that it will be requesting information from Washington and strengthening its quarantine measures. This is far too casual an approach to take, given how intently the South Korean public is watching. It is all well and fine to be cautious, but this response raises questions as to whether the government’s priorities lie with citizen health or with the interests of the United States. It seems to have already forgotten that the candlelight vigils against mad cow disease four years ago were triggered by the irresponsible attitude of the government, which seemed to put citizen health second.
Supplementary provisions on import hygiene, which were added through renegotiations after the 2008 rallies, dictate that the government should halt beef imports immediately and begin taking additional steps. According to data given by the government at the time, it can halt imports and conduct an epidemiological investigation into the cause with South Korean quarantine experts and US representatives by agreement with Washington. If the investigation shows any downgrading in the US’s status for mad cow disease risk, it can maintain its import suspension. If these data are indeed correct, then there is no cause at all for hesitation.
Some are contending that even the additional import hygiene negotiations held after the vigils were deeply flawed. The 1998 import hygiene conditions allowed for an immediate halt to imports with the discovery of mad cow disease. But the additional negotiations in 2008 are said to have merely resulted in supplementary provisions specifying the right to take “necessary measures such as the suspension of imports,” while preventing the government from taking effective measures. This means the government would be unable to implement either a quarantine inspection or an import suspension. If this is true, then it is a serious problem. We need to find out exactly where responsibility lies. And at this point, we should be turning our import hygiene conditions back to their 1998 levels.
　
Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]