SOUTH KOREA: South Koreans continue protests over U.S. beef imports as talks ongoing in Washington

Record ID: 212768

  • Title: SOUTH KOREA: South Koreans continue protests over U.S. beef imports as talks ongoing in Washington
  • Date: 15th June 2008
  • Summary: PROTESTERS HOLDING BANNER PROTESTERS WALKING ON STREET PORTRAIT SCROLL OF THE LATE LEE BYONG-RYOL, WHO SET HIMSELF ON FIE IN PROTEST AGAINST U.S. BEEF IMPORTS LEE'S COFFIN BEING CARRIED PORTRAIT SCROLL OF LEE VARIOUS OF FUNERAL
  • Embargoed: 30th June 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVACV8QAASU3DH5H40A897L6WI6C
  • Story Text: South Koreans continue their protest against U.S. beef imports as talks go on in Washington.
    South Korean protesters continued to rally on Saturday (June 14) against U.S. beef imports while Seoul's minister is holding meetings with U.S.
    counterparts in Washington.
    More than 10,000 protesters gathered in downtown Seoul to hold a candlelit vigil denouncing the government's move to resume beef imports.
    South Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon met Susan Schwab, the U.S.
    trade representative, on Friday evening. After the meeting, Kim told reporters that the private consultations on the deal to reopen South Korea's market to U.S. beef after four years will stretch over the weekend.
    The number of protests in South Korea has swollen over the past week as the government paid little attention to the events, fuelling the belief that the newly-elected government was intent on ignoring a public outcry and waiting for the protests to die down.
    South Korea's entire cabinet offered to resign on Tuesday in the face of massive street protests, as its increasingly unpopular president said that Asia's fourth-largest economy could be heading into crisis.
    At Saturday's rally, 19-year-old Choi Soon-il commented: "The minister went there (Washington) to try to rework the negotiation, but it's wrong because what we want is the renegotiation. I think there should be a new negotiation and I'm here to demand it."
    Choi Kyung-ran said: "The beef from the U.S. cattle older than 30 months must not be imported. Only boneless meat should be allowed to be imported, but the government keep pushing us to think it's ok to have the U.S.
    beef if it's from cattle younger than 30 months. I think the minister's visit to Washington is totally useless."
    Earlier, hundreds of people attended the funeral of a South Korean man who set himself ablaze protesting at the planned resumption of U.S. beef imports.
    Forty-year-old Lee Byong-ryol died in a Seoul hospital on Monday, two weeks after he set himself on fire while taking part in a street rally in the southern city of Jeonju.
    Protesters have held candle-lit vigils every night since May 2, demanding that the South Korean government re-negotiates the beef imports deal with the USA.
    The protests against the government, in office barely three months, were sparked by public outcry over a deal to widen its market to U.S. beef imports and have cast a darkening cloud over President Lee's plans for sweeping reform.
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