Rest in peace, President Kim.

National Victory March turned into National Camping Out Day.

According to some estimates, 400,000 to 500,000 citizens turned up in central Seoul on Saturday to attend a peaceful National Victory March. That itself is a great achievement for the movement against the Lee Myung-bak government, given the fact that just a week ago protesters were seriously considering taking self-defensive measures (read: steel pipes and bats) in response to police violence and brutality.

Saturday reminded many people of the early days of protest in May: there was no violence on either side. Police didn’t provoke protesters, and protesters didn’t attempt to march to the presidential Blue House. Instead, various cultural and protest activities took place all over the major streets of central Seoul.

And as the night deepened, a substantial number of people simply camped out on the streets:

Unless the Lee Myung-bak government drastically changes its course of action and chooses to renegotiate over U.S. beef and give up on its privatization plans for national infrastructure industries, every Saturday will likely turn into a National Camping Out Day.

National Victory March scheduled for Saturday

Following the Catholic priests and nuns who held a protest Mass at Seoul Plaza on Monday, Protestant pastors held a protest prayer meeting at the same place on Thursday.

And it was the Buddha’s turn on Friday: a thousand of Buddhist monks held a protest Buddhist service again at the same place in the presence of 30,000 citizens holding candlelights.

The monks ingeniously recreated the famous “Candlelight Girl” character in the form of a Buddhist light—a sacred lamp Buddhists use for various religious purposes:

On the heels of all these religious protest ceremonies comes a National Victory March on Saturday, which is expected to draw the biggest crowd since June 10 to central Seoul. Buoyed by support from various religious groups and organizations, many Koreans are increasingly confident that they will win this fight for health and human rights.

Burger King confirmed to use the beef from cows older than 30 months.

Peter Tan, President of Burger King, Asia Pacific, has clarified on the age of the beef used to make hamburger patties sold in Burger King restaurants in the U.S. Dong-a Ilbo, a right-wing propagandist daily, published last month an op-ed article claiming that Burger King USA and McDonald’s USA use cattle over the age of 30 months for hamburger patties. In his letter to Dong-a Ilbo, Mr. Tan reversed Burgur King Korea’s denial of that claim, and confirmed that the beef Burger King USA uses for hamburger patties may come from cattle older than 30 months of age:

Burger King Korea itself has issued a pop-up notice on Burger King USA’s official position, namely that the hamburger patties sold in Burger King restaurants in the U.S. “are made from 100 percent beef from healthy cows of all ages in accordance with strict U.S. federal regulations”:

This shouldn’t come as a surprise given the fact that about 20% of the beef consumed in the U.S. comes from cows older than 30 months of age.

New Progressive Party headquarters raided by a pro-government group.

The New Progressive Party (NPP) of Korea has been the most visible organization in the two-month long protests of Koreans against the Lee Myung-bak government. As noted before, NPP’s guerrilla media project called ColorTV enjoys a huge following among those Koreans who can’t participate in protest rallies in central Seoul in person for various reasons.

Around 10:30PM of July 1, several men apparently associated with HID, a pro-government extremist organization, raided NPP’s headquarters. According to those at the scene, the intruders went berserk shouting “We will kill Jin Joong-gwon and all the other commies of ColorTV”, and injured some party staff on duty. Jin is the political pundit who’s been serving nearly daily as the chief male reporter of ColorTV.

Lee Myung-sun, the chief female reporter of ColorTV, expressed her concerns over the safety of herself and the staff of ColorTV, but vowed to keep broadcasting candlelight vigils live till the last candlelight is put out.

One wonders whether this incident isn’t an indication that Lee Myung-bak and his right-wing extremist supporters have been caught by surprise by the recent turn of events.

“The darkness has never won against the light.”

As we reported the other day, the National Action Week against the South Korean government’s publication of guidelines on U.S. beef imports witnessed a lot of pain, suffering and blood on the part of peaceful protesters.

In response, about 300 Catholic priests and 200 nuns took to the street on Monday, and held a public protest Mass in central Seoul:

The priests and nuns called to the government for renegotiating over U.S. beef, firing Uh Chung-soo, the head of the National Police Agency, and releasing all the citizens arrested so far. And they called to the citizens for maintaining the principle of nonviolence.

Quoting John 1:5, they declared that “the darkness has never won against the light”. Tens of thousands of citizens attending the Mass burst into applaud and cheers in agreement.

Upon finishing the Mass and the ensuing protest march, some of the priests began a fasting protest at Seoul Plaza:

Also, the priests announced their plan to hold a protest Mass everyday at 7:00PM at Seoul Plaza.

International Herald Tribune publishes a false report on the June 28th protest.

Choe Sang-hun, a South Korea correspondent of International Heread Tribune (IHT), writes today that “The demonstrators hurled rocks and swung steel pipes while the police beat them back with plastic shields.” But it was police that hurled rocks and kindred things, as we reported yesterday. And the claim that protesters used steel pipes is a complete lie, a lie that even radical right-wing propagandist daily newspapers in Korea would dare not publish. Choe’s report intentionally misleads the readers into thinking that police violence was a result of responding to prostesters’ violence, which only exists in Choe’s imagination.

New York Times, which owns IHT and regularly publishes Choe’s articles in their entirety, has wisely published Choe’s report on the June 28th protest with that false claim edited out. Choe’s reports on Korea have always been skewed to the right. If, as is reported by Reuters, “The New York Times is developing plans to merge the Web site of the International Herald Tribune with that of The New York Times, in a bid to expand their global reach and deepen their appeal to advertisers“, it’d be wise of NY Times to reconsider publishing articles on Korea by an unreliable reporter like Choe.

Police violence escalates into madness.

June 28, the fourth day of the National Action Week against the South Korean government’s publication of guidelines on U.S. beef imports, might turn out to be a turning point in political struggles of Korean people for health and human rights.

In phase with his decision to put into effect the April 18th beef imports agreement with the U.S., Lee Myung-bak made a decisive break from his previous apologetic tone this week, and the police returned to full-scale violence. However, June 28 marked a new height in police violence.

Here’s a video showing a female student being attacked by riot police last night:

Police threw various items including a fire extinguisher at protesters:

This video shows police throwing nuts and bolts at protesters, injuring a middle-aged woman:

So many Korean people shed blood last night. But police’s violence didn’t discriminate between Koreans and non-Koreans, or between citizens and journalists. Reportedly a German journalist was injured by police. And an American young man had the upper left part of his lip cut by an inch by a sharp-edged police shield:

As police violence escalates, citizens are now seriously considering some possible self-defense measures. We might be entering a new phase in civil protest in Korea.

[Update: June 28, 21:20]

Here’s another video showing police acting like rabid beasts.

All 14 members of a human rights committee resign in protest against police violence.

Thursday, June 26, the second day of the National Action Week, was again filled with police violence, including use of water canons against peacefully protesting citizens:

Among a countless number of physical abuses by police stood out this case:

He is Ahn Min-seok, a member of the national assembly. According to the United Democratic Party—the leading opposition party Ahn is affiliated with—and news reporters present at the scene, Ahn was surrounded and attacked by police while trying to keep police from arresting citizens around 1 a.m. of June 27.

All 14 members of the human rights committee of the Korean Police Agency resigned in protest against police violence of the 26th. The fact that the committee comprises both conservative and liberal people indicates that concern is widespread over police’s treatment of protesters.

KCTU (Korean Confederation of Trade Unions) announces a plan for a total strike.

Wednesday, June 25, the first day of the National Action Week, was marked by police’s violence against the protesters.

More than a hundred protesters including one grade schooler and two young moms carrying baby carts were forcibly arrested. Many more were attacked by the police who seemed quite willing to use sharp-edged shields against peacefully protesting citizens. Also, a rather surreal thing happened: a man in his fifties (shown below) had one of his fingers bitten off by a policeman:

Lee Myung-bak may have calculated that if the police aggressively respond to protesters on Wednesday, not too many people will take to the streets on this weekend.

That’s a mistake.

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), the most powerful labor organization in Korea, has issued a notice of a set of guidelines for a total strike against the government’s decision to put into effect the April 18th beef import deal with the U.S.

National Action Week set for this week.

The South Korean government has announced today its decision to put into effect the controversial Korea-U.S. agreement on beef imports from Thursday, June 26.

Candlelight vigils and street rallies have been held daily against the agreement since May 2, but Lee Myung-bak, nicknamed “bulldozer”, has no fear of a collision with the people, despite the fact that his approval rating has plummeted to an all-time low.

The Korean people are responding to the announcement by declaring this week a National Action Week against Lee Myung-bak. It’s expected to draw the biggest candlelight crowd ever to central Seoul.

Kim Jong-hoon’s shameless lies exposed.

As noted earlier, Kim Jong-hoon, the top South Korean trade envoy to Washington, held talks with Susan Schwab, the U.S. Trade Representative, over some controversial elements of the April 18th U.S. beef import agreement. Upon return to Korea, Kim held a press conference on the talks and claimed that the U.S. government agreed to verify that the beef from cattle older than 30 months will not be shipped to Korea for consumption. But as Schwab makes it clear in her statement quoted below, that’s only “a transitional measure, to improve Korean consumer confidence in U.S. beef”. More importantly, the Quality System Assessment (QSA) program is not enforced by the U.S. government but is an entirely voluntary measure that can be canceled at will by the U.S. beef exporters. All bold emphases mine:

USTR NEWS
UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE
http://www.ustr.gov Washington, D.C. 20508 202-395-3230
For Immediate Release: Contact:
June 21, 2008 Sean Spicer/Gretchen Hamel (202) 395-3230

USTR Confirms Korea’s Announcement on U.S. Beef Washington, DC — United States Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab made the following statement in response to the announcement by the South Korean government today regarding U.S. beef trade. The government announced that, as a result of recent discussions in Washington, Korea will put into effect the April 18th beef import protocol agreed to by the two governments and pave the way for U.S. beef to flow into the Korean market.

“I welcome the South Korean government’s announcement that it will shortly put the April 18 protocol into effect.
“Korean beef importers and U.S. exporters have reached a commercial understanding that only U.S. beef from cattle under 30-months of age will be shipped to Korea, as a transitional measure, to improve Korean consumer confidence in U.S. beef.
“At the request of U.S. exporters, once the protocol goes into effect, the U.S. government will facilitate this transitional private sector arrangement. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will set up a voluntary Quality System Assessment (QSA) Program once the protocol goes into effect. This program will verify that beef from participating plants will be from cattle less than 30 months of age.
“We have also agreed on a few additional clarifications to the April 18th protocol that we will implement once the protocol is in effect in an effort to increase the confidence of Korean consumers in U.S. beef.
“We look forward to safe, affordable, high-quality American beef – the same beef enjoyed by hundreds of millions of U.S. consumers and people in countries around the world – soon arriving on Korean tables.
“The resumption of U.S. beef exports to Korea is further evidence of our growing trade relationship with Korea, and the Administration will continue to work hard to obtain Congressional approval of the United States-Korea FTA this year.”

Background:

The June 13-19 discussions in Washington, led by Ambassador Schwab and Trade Minister Kim, focused on ways to facilitate the commercial, private-sector agreement between Korean importers and U.S. exporters to ship U.S. beef from animals less than 30-months for a transitional period until consumer confidence in South Korea improves. To support these voluntary commitments, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will establish, once the import protocol is in force, the “Less than 30 Month Age-Verification Quality System Assessment (QSA) Program for Korea” administered by the U.S. government under the Agricultural Marketing Act. This program will verify that all beef shipped to Korea under the program is from cattle less than 30 months of age.
In addition, both sides have agreed that certain products (brains, skulls, eyes and spinal cords), which are not specified risk materials in cattle less than 30 months of age, have not been traded between the two countries in the past. Once the import protocol is in effect, both sides will confirm their expectation that until there is market demand in Korea for such products, such commercial practice will continue.
The two governments will also clarify, once the import protocol is in effect, that Korea can take certain actions under the protocol if it finds serious non-compliance during its audits of U.S. beef processing plants, as well as actions it could take at the border upon detection of food safety hazards. All of these actions will be limited to the product or plant in question.
Finally, Korea confirmed that it will publish its import health requirements for U.S. beef and beef products, putting the April 18 protocol into effect shortly.
The April 18 protocol defines conditions for importation of U.S. beef to South Korea and provides for a full reopening of the market. It is fully consistent with OIE guidelines and will permit all U.S. beef and beef products from cattle of all ages to be exported to Korea, with appropriate Specified Risk Materials (SRMs), as defined by the OIE, removed, while guaranteeing commercial viability for U.S. industry. Both Korean importers and U.S. exporters reaffirmed the safety of all U.S. beef, regardless of age, in their statement and letter on June 20.

A comment from a reader of this blog

Terry S. Singeltary Sr. left this comment:

well, so the U.S. slams the mad cow door on Korea and it’s people, due to the bungled beef deal the USDA shoved down Lee’s throat. sadly, Lee signed the deal oblivious to what really has been going on behind closed doors for years here in the USA, and the USDA et al knew they had a fish on the line. my God, this guy was totally ignorant of what they were doing. now the kind honorable people of Korea will be force fed USDA certified beef. beef that has been highly suspect of mad cow disease since the USDA shut down testing, this after finding two cases of the atypical BSE in Alabama and Texas. remember, atypical BSE is more virulent than the UK BSE strain. Also, it seems the O.I.E. has sealed the deal on trading all strains of TSE i.e. mad cow disease strains globally, all for a buck, commodities and futures, to hell with human health. it’s business as usual folks, eat up, and die old and demented, if your lucky. I must apologize to the kind honorable citizens of Korea for what my Government has done. I tried. But as the USDA certified beef starts to flood Korean markets, remember one thing Korea, you don’t have to buy it. let it rot, until the USDA et al gets there head out of their pockets, and start to test all food producing cattle and all livestock for BSE and all TSE. CJD is a slow death while incubating. so you will not see the body bags all at once. as in the past here, it will be labeled as dementia, misdiagnosed as Alzheimer’s and other dementia ailments. it will become an acceptable death as here in the USA due to the push by the industries and your Government due to the financial aspect of it. The OIE and my Government sold their souls to the devil, and if you don’t believe me, just read the history. let it all be sporadic and or spontaneous they say, and make them eat it, and like it. that’s their motto. to hell with the consumer. Every American and Korean consumer should be demanding 100% BSE/TSE mad cow testing on all livestock food producing animals, for humans and animals. This should be a no-brainer, but instead, it’s a brain eater.

Terry thinks that Koreans shouldn’t buy U.S. beef and then they’ll all be fine. I wish the problem was as simple and convenient as that. The reason that the U.S. beef issue has caused such an uproar among Koreans is that some groups of people including school children will inevitably be exposed to the risks of eating U.S. beef unbeknown to them. The private companies that run school lunch programs and some low-end restaurant owners will use U.S. beef so as to increase profit margins at the expense of the health of their customers. And as we noted earlier, the South Korean government doesn’t have enough resources to make sure that American beef will not be sold as domestic beef or hanwoo.

“Stop the madness”

In his op-ed contribution to NY Times, Michael Hansen, a senior scientist at Consumers Union, writes about the so-called “rapid test” for mad cow disease that “Between 2001 and 2006, the European Union used the test to turn up 1,117 cases of mad cow disease in seemingly healthy cattle approved for slaughter.”

June 20, 2008
Op-Ed Contributor
Stop the Madness
By MICHAEL HANSEN

THE Korean beef market, once the third-largest importer of American beef, has shut its doors to the United States. Why? Because Koreans are worried about eating meat tainted with mad cow disease, which can be fatal to humans. Recent attempts by Korea’s president, Lee Myung-bak, to reopen the market have brought tens of thousands of demonstrators to the streets in protest.

American beef producers could easily allay those fears by subjecting every cow at slaughter to the so-called rapid test, which costs about $20 per carcass and screens for this brain-wasting disease in a few hours rather than days. But the United States Department of Agriculture won’t allow that.

In 2004, Creekstone Farms in Arkansas City, Kan., wanted to test the cattle it slaughters to comply with the wishes of its Korean and Japanese customers. But the department ruled that the rapid test could only be used as part of its own mad cow surveillance program, which randomly checks about 1 in 1,000 dead and slaughtered cattle in the United States every year. The sale of the kits to private companies is prohibited under an obscure 1913 law that allows the department to prohibit veterinary products that it considers “worthless.”

Creekstone sued the government in 2006, arguing in court that the Agriculture Department could not deem worthless a test that it used in its own surveillance program. The court agreed, but the department appealed. A decision is expected soon.

It is hard to understand why the Agriculture Department wants to stand in the way. Yes, the test has limitations: it can miss a case of mad cow disease, also called bovine spongiform encephalopathy, in the very early stages of incubation. But it can catch the disease in later stages, before animals show symptoms. Between 2001 and 2006, the European Union used the test to turn up 1,117 cases of mad cow disease in seemingly healthy cattle approved for slaughter.

Ideally, the Agriculture Department would follow the rules set up in Europe and Japan that require every cow over a certain age to be tested before being slaughtered. At the very least the department should not prevent private companies from testing.

Companies that use the rapid test should also be allowed to label their meat as having been “tested for mad cow” for American consumers who would like this extra level of protection. A Consumers Union national survey done in January 2004 found that 71 percent of adults who eat beef would pay more to support testing, and of those, 95 percent were willing to spend 10 cents more per pound for tested meat.

In the Creekstone case, the Agriculture Department argued that the tests should be prohibited because if one company started using them, consumer demand would drive all companies to use them, and that would add to the price of beef. But would that be such a bad thing? Isn’t this how the laws of supply and demand are supposed to work?

Most Americans, like Koreans, understand that testing for mad cow could save lives — and they’d like to have that option.

Michael Hansen is a senior scientist at Consumers Union.

“USDA mad cow madness”

LA Times editorial points out the absurdity, or madness, of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s efforts to block Creekstone Farms, a Kansas beef producer, from testing the carcasses of all its cattle for mad cow disease:

USDA mad cow madness
The agency’s refusal to let firms test for the disease denies consumers a safety net.
June 19, 2008

When is a worthwhile test for mad cow disease not worthwhile? According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, it’s when a private company uses the test.

At least, that’s part of the argument the USDA has been using to keep a beef producer from screening the carcasses of all its cattle, saying that although the federal agency relies on the rapid-screen test for high-risk cattle, the test would be “worthless” in the hands of Creekstone Farms.

Knowing that customers, especially foreign ones such as Japan and South Korea, remain wary of the USDA’s spotty screening program, the Kansas meat company has been fighting the agency for four years for the right to use the state-of-the-art testing lab it built. The rapid-screen test is not completely accurate, but it has been useful enough for the USDA to employ. Creekstone still would not be able to legitimately label its products as free of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, the technical term for mad cow disease, but its customers should have the choice of deciding whether the extra screening is worth paying for.

The USDA contends that private testing is unnecessary and that its own program, which tests fewer than 1% of cattle, adequately protects the public from mad cow. This might well be true. There is no known instance of U.S. beef causing a case of the human variant of the disease. But as long as the test presents no threat to animal or human health, why shouldn’t an innovative company give customers what they want? The USDA’s motivation probably has more to do with the beef industry’s opposition to Creekstone: Testing might put consumer pressure on other companies to do the same.

Creekstone won its first battle in court, but the USDA appealed; a ruling is expected soon. Meanwhile, instead of letting farms like Creekstone grow their businesses, the United States has been trying to persuade or strong-arm foreign countries into accepting U.S. beef standards, with limited success. Its recent deal with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak led to massive street protests. And while our bullying beef diplomacy reaps enmity instead of customers, Australia is increasing its market share.

The USDA has had enough problems in recent years making sure that companies meet its safety requirements. It ought to get that job done, and not interfere with producers that are going above and beyond to provide the safety standards some consumers want.

Top South Korean trade envoy fails to deliver his promises.

Quoting the officials close to the recent week-long talks between Kim Jong-hoon, the top South Korean trade envoy, and Susan Schwab, the United States trade representative, Steven Weisman of New York Times reports that both sides agreed on “a voluntary arrangement by private exporters and importers not to ship American beef from cattle more than 30 months old for consumption in South Korea.”

If true, that would mean a complete failure of the South Korean trade envoy’s promised efforts to make the U.S. government guarantee (at least for a limited period of time) that the beef exported to South Korea is from cattle younger than 30 months.

I guess Kim Jong-hoon will receive a warm welcome at the Inchon airport from candlelight-holding protesters.

“Broadband democracy”

As noted earlier, a unique aspect of the current candlelight vigils and rallies in Korea is the ubiquitous presence of guerrilla reporters who broadcast the events live through the internet.

Nathalie Touret of France 24, France’s 24 hour news network, reports that a new form of democracy has emerged in South Korea, and calls it “broadband democracy”:

Wednesday 18 June 2008

By Nathalie Touret / FRANCE 24

Almost every evening for the past month, thousands of people have been gathering at Seoul City Hall square. They don’t like the new President’s policy and they want to show it. And in these gatherings, laptops are a must have. Some people carrying computers film the crowd with their webcam and broadcast live videos thanks to high-speed wifi connections. “People who live in Seoul can go on the streets”, one of them says, “and some of those who do not live in the capital-city can come all the way here. But people who cannot, can at least see what is happening here live, through the internet.”

This is called broadband democracy and these Koreans are Netizens, Internet Citizens. They first voiced their discontent in cyberspace before taking to the streets. One man, sitting on the floor in front of his laptop is writing a live transcript of what is being said on the stage for a website. “What I want to do is inform people through the internet”, explains Chai Kun-shik, “provide them with detailed information on the situation and tell them the facts the governement is hiding”.

Sung-dae, a college student, collaborates with the same website. When he can’t attend a demonstration, he follows it live on the Internet. He says being a Netizen is very easy in Korea. The country ranks first among OECD nations in terms of household access to the internet. “We have wireless Internet everywhere and as long as you have a laptop, you can access Internet very easily”, he tells France 24. “Even out of Seoul, in the countryside, it is the same”.

Ohmynews has become an institution. This web paper was created in 2000 to rival the largely conservative newspapers that rarely questionned the authorities. During the 2002 presidential election campain, Ohmynews played a major role in insuring that a progressive candidate came into power. But not in 2007, when stricter laws were implemented. “In 2007, we didn’t have the right to give our opinion on public forums or websites, only on private blogs”, says editor in chief Lee Han-ki. “It was officially forbidden to voice support for one candidate. People who wrote such articles were arrested by the police and this stopped people from voicing their opinions on the Internet”.

It was only after the election, that Netizens were able to talk freely again on the Web. What is clear is that the Internet has become a real counter-power in South-korea, which is why new laws, aimed at controlling Internet content, are expected to be implemented in a couple of months.

All records broken in approval ratings.

As we reported earlier, Lee Myung-bak was already breaking records in approval ratings for South Korean presidents.

Miraculously, though, the bottomless fall of Lee Myung-bak continues.

According to a monthly poll taken by Naeil Shinmoon, a daily evening newspaper, and Hanghil Research, a polling company, Lee now holds an approval rating of 7.4 percent. (That’s the combined percentage of very good and good. The other three options were: so-so, poor and very poor). No, it’s not a typo. Lee managed to achieve a single digit approval rating in four months after taking office. I’m willing to bet it’s a record in the history of presidential approval ratings the world over.

Some other numbers worth noting: 88% of respondents have said that renegotiation over U.S. beef imports is necessary. And 71.5% of Korean citizenry think positively about candlelight vigils and rallies.

Grade schoolers look forward to joining rallies.

South Korea is known for its long history of civil disobedience and rallies against authoritarian rulers. But something unprecedented is happening in this new chapter of South Korean struggles for democracy and human rights.

As mentioned earlier, it was teenage girls holding candlelights who ignited the on-going massive, daily protests against Lee Myung-bak and his policies. Then men and women in their 30’s and 40’s joined, and lastly came the college students in the 20’s.

Even more remarkable than that is the fact that a substantial number of protesters are grade schoolers. It’s not uncommon for parents to attend rallies these because that’s what their grade school children want. It’s no wonder then that these “young” protesters are looking forward to the upcoming summer break:

“You’ve gotta be ready for us. Break is coming soon.”

“It’s break soon. Grade schoolers, come together!”

Amen to that!

A pile of trash dumped in front of the publisher of a trash daily newspaper.

Chosun Ilbo, one of the big three newspapers in Korea along with Joong-ang Ilbo and Dong-a Ilbo, collectively known as “Cho-Joong-Dong” for their right-wing propagandist, distorted reports, is widely derided as a “trash” daily and has been an object of protest since candlelight vigils started on May 2. But last night the protesters came up with an ingenious way of showing their contempt for the trash daily: