TWN Info Service on Free Trade Agreements

13 June 2008


Korea-US FTA and beef row

In recent weeks, Koreans have taken to streets in the thousands to protest the government’s decision to lift its import ban on beef products from the US. This culminated in a massive demonstration held in Seoul on June 10 that saw the largest ever peaceful gathering in the country in recent memory.

The decision in April 2008 by South Korea to resume market opening to US beef is seen as Seoul's concession to get the bilateral FTA between South Korea and the US passed by the US Congress.

Though the beef issue was not expressly included in the Korea-US FTA that was signed in April 2007, and that has yet to be ratified by both sides, nonetheless, influential US legislators have demanded that Seoul fully open its market as a prerequisite to their support of the trade deal.

The massive show of protests across South Korea however, have forced the government to first postpone the import of US beef and then to agree not to import beef from cows more than 30 months old as well as reach agreement on new import standards. Also, the entire cabinet offered to resign over the public uproar.

Below is a report of the anti-beef import row as it relates to the Korea-US FTA. It is an edited version of an article which first appeared in the South-North Development Monitor on 13 June and is reproduced here with the permission of its publisher.

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 [South-North Development Monitor (SUNS) #6495, 13 June 2008]

 Trade: Korea-US FTA and beef row

Kuala Lumpur, 12 Jun (Chee Yoke Heong) -- Intense demonstrations have been held across South Korea in the last month as thousands of Koreans took to the streets to protest their government's decision to lift the ban on beef imports from the US and they are making an impact.

In April, South Korea and the US reached an agreement whereby Korea will resume market opening to US beef in a move that observers said was Seoul's concession to get a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries passed by the US Congress.

South Korea banned imports of US beef back in 2003 after a case of mad cow disease was found in the US. South Korea was then the third largest buyer of US beef. However, in 2006, the US ally partially resumed imports of US beef in order to facilitate the launch of talks on the South Korea-US FTA.

The move saw the opening of the Korean market to US beef from cows aged less than 30 months as young cows are considered less susceptible to the mad cow disease, and imports were restricted to meat without bones. However, bones were found in a shipment during inspections on them. This raises questions as to the ability of US beef exporters in adhering to the food-safety standards agreed upon by South Korea and the US.

(Mad cow disease or Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy is a fatal, neuro-degenerative disease in cattle, and can be transmitted to humans who eat the brain or spinal cord of infected carcasses. In humans, it is known as the Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease that could lead to death.)

The US reacted to the 2003 ban by accusing South Korea of setting its food-safety bar too high and demanded that the country fully open its market to all US beef and making the condition a pre-requisite to the consideration of the Korea-US FTA. Though the beef issue was not expressly included in the Korea-US FTA that was signed in April 2007, and that has yet to be ratified by both sides, nonetheless, influential US legislators have demanded that Seoul fully open its market as a prerequisite to their support of the trade deal.

So in April, during South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's visit to the US for the Korea-US Summit, it was announced that South Korea would fully open its beef market to the US products.

What ensued was a massive show of protests across South Korea which forced the government to first postpone the import of US beef and then to agree not to import beef from cows more than 30 months old as well as reach agreement on new import standards.

However, the South Korean public, largely concerned about the health implications and to protect the country's quarantine sovereignty, wants a complete scrapping of the April beef deal and called for a renegotiation of the deal. Even the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) which had previously insisted that US beef is safe and that a deal that includes beef is necessary for the South Korea-US FTA has reversed its position due to the nationwide demonstrations.

So strong were the protests that a man died two weeks after setting himself on fire for denouncing the agreement to reopen the country's markets to US beef.

Due to public pressure, much in the form of candlelight vigils in major cities around the country, the prime minister announced on June 10 that members of the Cabinet have offered to resign en-mass to take responsibility over the handling of the beef issue. Demonstrations continued to be held the following day when hundreds of thousands of people filled the streets in Seoul which saw the largest ever peaceful demonstration in the country in recent memory. 

Meanwhile, the political ramifications for President Lee are significant as his popularity, after just three months in office, took a sharp drop as he faces more and more demonstrators in the coming days. A June survey by pollster Korea Research and YTN cable news network has shown that 87% of those polled expressed disappointment with the government's talks with the US over the beef issue.

Another opinion poll found that after 100 days in office, President Lee's approval rating stood at just over 20 percent. Even his counterpart President George W. Bush's assurance last Saturday (7 June) that the US will make sure that beef from older cattle will not be exported to South Korea have not calmed the public's fears which are not only confined to the beef issue but also to the Korea-US FTA in general.

When President Lee proposed the beef deal back in April, he might have thought that he could appease those members of the US Congress who have demanded that South Korea open its markets to US products before they agree to vote to pass the Korea-US FTA.

But Bush has yet to send the trade agreement to Congress for ratification and it would seem unlikely that the pact will be passed before Bush leaves office at the end of the year especially after the derailment of the Colombia pact whose passage was to determine the fate of the other agreements signed by the US.

The prospects for the Korea-US FTA could also look dim as Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate for president, is opposed to the agreement, saying that the FTA is "badly flawed" and that the deal favours South Korea more than the US in terms of market access.

Though John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, approves of the FTA as it is, he may have to face resistance from the Democrat-controlled Congress which is likely to seek major changes to the agreement beyond the beef issue.

At home, given the mounting public pressure, analysts believe that the National Assembly of South Korea is unlikely to approve the FTA until the beef issue is settled.

[According to an article in the New York Times, the US Food and Drug Administration in 2004 had planned to ban the feeding of cow blood, waste from chicken coops and waste from restaurants to cattle. However, the ban was not implemented by the FDA under political pressure.

[The Times article pointed out that in mid-2005 when there was a second confirmed case of mad cow disease, the Agriculture Department was found to have concealed for seven months the fact that one of the tests that it conducted on the sample had come back as positive. Finally, due to pressure exerted by consumer groups and the Department's own inspector-general - who had called the testing as seriously flawed - the Department tested 650,000 animals in 2005 and 2006, and only three confirmed positive cases were found. However, said the Times article, even as overall fears about the issue began to fade, in February this year, the Humane Society of the United States had released videotapes that it had taken at animal auctions that showed "downer" cows (those unable to walk, and to be viewed as with mad cow disease) being shocked and prodded with forklifts and blasted with hoses to make them stand long enough to be certified for slaughter. These, said the Times, had renewed the debate on how rigorously the US Agriculture Department enforced food safety rules. - SUNS] +