hankyoreh

Criticism of the government’s decision to open local markets to imports of U.S. beef has grown due to new information that the government gave up an important set of preconditions in order to push the deal through before the South Korea-U.S. summit last month. Experts are now pointing out that concessions made by the government in the course of its negotiations with Washington have caused South Korea to forfeit rights granted under international law, namely, that a government can impose a ban on imports if it finds that there is a significant risk to the public health, such as that posed by mad cow disease.

A high-ranking government official said, “Allowing all types of U.S. beef into the local market, after Washington simply announced measures aimed at banning protein-based feed, goes against the OIE’s recommendation last May, designating the U.S. as a risk-controlled nation (for mad cow disease).” The OIE is the World Organization for Animal Health.

The previous administration pushed for immediate implementation of such measures, delaying imports of U.S. beef, but the principle has not been kept this time, the official added.

The official, who also took part in negotiations on the South Korea-U.S. free trade agreement, said, “The beef talks had been in limbo because the U.S. failed to meet some other tricky international standards.” He emphasized that the beef agreement is totally different from the one envisioned by the previous administration.

Some critics have also pointed out that the government failed to follow internationally-accepted procedures in order to announce the (beef import) deal in time for a summit between Seoul and Washington April 18-19. “The government didn’t take enough steps to let people know the risk of mad cow disease before the full opening of the local market to U.S. beef, and failed to draw national consensus on how to control the threat,” said Song Ki-ho, a lawyer specializing in trade. “This is against the regulations stipulated by the OIE.”

Under the beef deal, the government agreed not to ban imports, even if there is an outbreak of mad cow disease in the United States, until Washington is able to conduct its own investigation into the matter. According to the World Trade Organization, a country has a right to impose a ban on imports when it is determined that the goods in question could pose a threat to the public health or the environment. In approving the beef deal, the government has forfeited these rights.

In an apparent bid to assuage the public outcry against the deal, Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-chun and Health and Welfare Minister Kim Soung-yee said in a news conference that the government had agreed to allow imports of U.S. beef based on international standards and scientific reasoning.

Meanwhile, the civic group Lawyers for a Democratic Society, or Minbyun, asked the government to disclose the full text of the beef agreement. The request was turned down. “We received notice from the government that it is still working on the final wording of the agreement,” the group said.

In a related move, the group filed suit against Minister Chung with the Seoul Administrative Court, saying that it is illegal to reject a demand to disclose the agreement because the announcement of a pending law revision had already been made.

Song, the trade lawyer, said, “Announcing a pending law revision is the process of letting people know the contents of the legislation and gathering opinions from the general public. If the ministry’s argument that it is still working on the final wording is true, it is likely that the government rushed a piece of legislation that was not fully prepared and force people to accept it.”

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