The Beef With America
June 16th, 2008 -- Posted in Korean Politics | 5 Comments »
So, what’s the key?
I’m Korean. As Korean, I just want to say about the big problem in Korea about US beef.Why Koreans have to fight to their president?
April 18th, 2008, the president Lee Myung Bak of Korea and president Bush seemed to be so close. The problem is that they just seemed to be. Looking back, That was not good things at all. Because at the same time, the president of Korea agreed about importing US beef between Korea and US. Actually, at that time I thought that Koreans would must do some things that America is going to ask Korea and even if Koreans don’t want to do since Korea don’t’ have power.
That was true. After then, tens of thousands of Koreans are protesting US beef imports. All their desire is just that they don’t want to eat mad cow. In other words, they want government to renegotiate with America. That’s because America’s official announcement about their beef was not clear and Koreans could see the fact that we might have mad cow sometime through TV shows or online with plain some evidences. They are afraid of eating mad cow. Most of Koreans believe that US beef is not safe and will threaten their health.
However, in my opinion, the key is that Korea don’t have power. The president of Korea will also want to have safe beef and hope that Koreans will be happy as well. But this negotiation is not personal. It’s trade agreements between countries.Even if you were the president of Korea, the same situation would happen I guess. I would say that the issue is more political than economic.
A lot of Koreans are angry at the president and they think that the negotiation was unfair. That’s why they want renegotiation somehow. Koreans don’t believe government’s announcement of both America and Korea anymore, so they are protesting about the negotiation and president Lee Myung Bak by themselves on the street.
To be honest, I want them to stop doing it. Because I believe that the negotiation will fulfill the way America want to at the end. As a result, Koreans will seem to fight to each other in their own country. Their great protest might be ignored by America.
As Korean, I don’t want to say like this way though. However, in reality, I must admit the fact that America doesn’t care whether how many Koreans agree about this or not. Whether Koreans protest or not, America might think that it doesn’t matter at all.After all, Lee Myung Bak might rather get into trouble in Korea and out of Korea. How can we overcome this crisis? Any ideas?
Hey everyone, I would like to introduce a new occasional contributor to PoliticsAcrossThePond. Her name is Yun Mi and she lives in South Korea and has provided this insight into the current US-Korean Trade issue. Her first language is not English but I am sure most of the people who read this site will be able to gleam the main message of her posts. - Crian
