hankyoreh

Netizens and the People’s Countermeasure Council against Full Resumption of Imports of U.S. Beef Endangered with Mad Cow Disease downplayed President Lee Myung-bak’s second public apology on June 19. They said that they had expected Lee would come up with a drastic measure but there was no improvement from the current government position.

A statement issued by the council on this same day said, “As long as the government uses lies and excuses to refuse to renegotiate the beef deal, people will continue to stage protests.” The council declared, “People have staged candlelight rallies for more than 40 days to recover our quarantine sovereignty, but what he said in the press conference is that he would refuse renegotiation. We are making it clear that we can’t stop candlelight vigils as a means to resist and judge the government which has betrayed the people.”

An advisory committee of experts belonging to the council stressed to the media that contents of the additional beef negotiations unveiled by President Lee are not measures to protect people from the danger of mad cow disease. “The government didn’t change one single letter of the agreement and disregarded people’s demand saying that it will control imports of beef from cows older than 30 months through voluntary restrictions. A government which doesn’t follow people’s wishes and can’t protect public life and health is disqualified as a government,” they maintained. Park Sang-pyo, an official of the Veterinarian Solidarity for Public Health, remarked, “People want the government to restore the quarantine sovereignty, but the president threatened citizens mentioning the free trade agreement with the United States and non-existent international standards and trade frictions regarding importation of beef.”

Netizens have posted articles expressing their disappointment about the government’s position not to pursue renegotiations of the beef deal. A netizen wrote, “We already have predicted that the president will blame himself for the government’s beef policy. The privatization of public utilities has already been announced by the ruling Grand National Party. We apparently have had unrealistic high expectations about the press conference.”

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions issued a statement, saying, “President Lee made it clear that the government won’t accept renegotiations of the beef deal. Regarding the privatization of public companies he just changed the expression to ‘advancement.’ In connection with deregulation also, he declared that the policy will be pursued focusing on large companies.” “The president just tried to deceive people by using meaningless rhetorical expressions,” the statement continued.

In comparison, the Korea Employers Federation viewed President Lee’s press conference positively, stating that Lee earnestly expressed his desire to be trusted by the international community considering the nation’s high dependence on international trade.

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