Dozens hurt in South Korea beef protest

Jolie Rouge

Dozens hurt in South Korea beef protest
By JAE-SOON CHANG, Associated Press Writer
27 minutes ago

SEOUL, South Korea - Dozens were injured in the largest protest yet over an agreement to resume U.S. beef imports to South Korea, according to authorities and media reports Saturday.

A crowd estimated by police at 65,000 demonstrated in central Seoul on Friday night. Some marched on a road leading to the presidential Blue House but were blocked by a barricade of police buses.

Riot police later clashed with demonstrators who tried to march to the presidential office through a back alley.

About 25 riot police were hospitalized and protesters smashed the windows of four of the buses, said an officer at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. The officer declined to give his name, citing office policy.

The injuries were not critical, he said.

The officer had no information on the number of protesters injured and rally organizers were not immediately available for comment. News cable channel YTN said "dozens" of protesters were hurt.

South Koreans have been taking to the streets for weeks to criticize President Lee Myung-bak for his handling of an April agreement with Washington to restart imports of U.S. beef.

On Thursday night, a crowd estimated at 25,000 people staged a candlelight protest downtown. Organizers have pledged that rallies will continue nonstop though Sunday.

Many South Koreans fear that the beef deal fails to protect the nation from mad cow disease by allowing beef from older U.S. cattle, considered at greater risk of the illness.

Protesters complain Lee has ignored their concerns, behaved arrogantly and given in to U.S. demands.

A contrite Lee vowed Friday to take a "humble attitude."

"I will open my ears in a more humble attitude and listen to the people," Lee said in a speech Friday to commemorate Memorial Day, a national holiday. He did not directly mention the beef dispute.

Later Friday, presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said all eight senior presidential secretaries — including himself — had offered to resign.

In South Korea, senior officials sometimes offer to step down during times of crisis to deflect or diminish criticism of an embattled leader.

The spokesman said Saturday it was not clear whether or when the president would accept the resignations.

South Korea's government said last week it would begin allowing imports this week, but withdrew the plan at the last minute Monday, apparently fearful of a public backlash.

The government also said it has asked the United States to refrain from exporting beef from cattle 30 months of age or older. Still, it stopped short of directly asking Washington for a renegotiation of the deal and failed to calm public anger.

On Saturday, President Lee ruled out any formal renegotiation, saying it might spark a trade dispute that could affect the country's export-driven economy, especially the key auto and semiconductor industries.

"We are a trade-dependent nation," Lee said during a meeting with Buddhist leaders. "Demanding renegotiation will cause an enormous problem due to trade friction."

Lee said he would seek other ways to keep beef from older cattle from entering the country, and that the United States is "actively cooperating" with Seoul to find a solution.

U.S. beef has been banned from South Korea for most of the past 4 1/2 years since the first case of mad cow disease in the U.S. was discovered in late 2003. Two subsequent cases were found.

Scientists believe the disease spreads when farmers feed cattle recycled meat and bones from infected animals. The U.S. banned recycled feeds in 1997.

In humans, eating meat products contaminated with the illness is linked to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare and fatal malady blamed for the deaths of over 150 people worldwide, mostly in Britain.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080607/...RxJSQVOwDuOrgF


If most of the cases of Mad Cow were in Britian - why are they so upset about US beef ??[/i]

__________________
Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

Jolie Rouge

US, South Korean officials end beef talks
By FOSTER KLUG, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 6 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The top U.S. and South Korean trade envoys broke off talks Sunday without resolving a crisis over the resumption of American beef shipments that has shaken South Korea's pro-U.S. government.

South Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon, who flew into Washington on Friday for discussions, was returning home, U.S. Trade Representative spokeswoman Gretchen Hamel said.

Kim and Susan Schwab, the U.S. trade envoy, held "frank and candid discussions" Friday and Saturday, Hamel said, but, "in order to find a mutually acceptable solution, both sides need more time to look into technical issues."

She said officials from the countries will stay in contact.

The talks, which focused on the importation of U.S. beef from cattle below 30 months of age, came as thousands of people protested in Seoul, demanding that a beef import deal settled in April be renegotiated and urging South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to resign.

Lee has vowed not to allow the import of beef from cattle older than 30 months. Scientists think infection levels of mad cow disease increase with age.

The South Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the "two sides agreed to cooperate to produce a solution that can satisfy each other." Seoul and Washington needed more time to work out effective measures for beef imports, the ministry said.

The Bush administration has said that it will not renegotiate an accord that was supposed to have settled a major irritant in ties between the allies. But Washington has said it supports beef packaging labels that would show the ages of slaughtered cows.

Lee said he has received a positive reply from the U.S. on measures under which the American beef industry would voluntarily not ship meat from cattle older than 30 months. Lee called the voluntary restraint the most rational measure to resolve the beef dispute.

American beef processors have said they are willing to label beef shipments bound for South Korea.

South Korea was the third-largest overseas market for U.S. beef until it banned imports after a case of mad cow disease was detected in 2003, the first of three confirmed cases in the United States.

Seoul's agreement to reopen its market for U.S. beef, which came just hours before Lee held his first summit with President Bush, was widely seen as a concession aimed at getting the United States to approve a broader free trade deal.

Both Seoul and Washington have repeatedly insisted that U.S. beef is safe, citing the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health. But Lee has come under intense public fire for allegedly ignoring concerns over the safety of U.S. beef.

The entire South Korean Cabinet offered to resign last week in an apparent attempt to dampen public anger, but late-night vigils and street rallies have continued.

A crowd estimated by police at about 2,000 rallied Sunday night near the city hall and marched through Seoul.

Mad cow disease is the common term for a brain-wasting disease in cattle called bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE. In people, eating meat contaminated with BSE is linked to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, a rare and deadly nerve disease.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080616/...2ieaZYSFus0NUE

__________________
Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?