ISDS Case Map
Korea
Video interview with Geum Soon Yoon, member of Korean Peasant Woman's Association, taped on 3 June 2008.
A farmer, 56, who is only identified by his surname, Kim, lies in the hospital after having set himself on fire on June 5, in protest against the US beef import agreement at Seoul City Hall Plaza.
A South Korean man, Lee Byong-Ryol, has died in hospital two weeks after setting himself ablaze in protest at a deal to resume US beef imports.
The South Korean government says it will return or destroy all US beef from cattle older than 30 months in the process of its import quarantine if private sectors in both South Korea and the US voluntarily reach an agreement to impose an age limit in their beef trade. This would run directly counter to the US-Korea beef import deal signed in mid-April.
The Bush administration, whose major political funding sources allegedly involve ranchers, is likely to urge China and Japan to "fully" open their beef markets, citing the negotiation results with South Korea.
Korean public opinion wants a complete scrap of the April 18 beef deal with the US. The scale, intensity, and variety of participants in the street protests continue to grow. The mood is like a “Second June Struggle,” the June Struggle of 1987 having been a significant event in Korea's democracy movement. However some say that the May struggle for nullification of Beef deal has a lot of significant signs that differ from 1987 democracy struggle. These actions are creating New democracy.
A South Korean man set himself on fire early Thursday morning following a candlelight rally in central Seoul against the resumption of US beef imports. Kim, a day laborer, is in critical condition with severe burns to his body.
Rally organizers claimed as many as 1 million people could turn out nationwide for a scheduled rally on Tuesday, when the country marks the anniversary of a 1987 democratic uprising that led the then military regime to grant free elections, prompting ensuing political reforms.
A senior government official indicated Thursday that the Korean government would not ask the United States to renegotiate the beef import deal. Opposition parties and the majority of the people, however, want the renegotiation.
The plan called for US exporters to voluntarily limit exports of beef from cattle older than 30 months
