ISDS Case Map
Korea
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
The “People's Countermeasure Council against Full Resumption of Imports of US Beef Endangered with Mad Cow Disease,” an umbrella organization of Korean civic groups and cyber activists issued a statement on June 3 saying that the government "needs to decide for sure that it will fully and permanently prohibit the importation of beef [from US cattle over 30 months old], and demand that the US accept this.”
The sense in Washington is that Congress will either vote against ratifying the US-Korea FTA or will simply not vote on it at all. Bush has yet to send it to Congress for ratification, and he's getting advice on all sides to drop it, to let it slide into the next administration.
Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-chun said that until the two nations reach an agreement on the age limit of cattle when they are slaughtered for meat to be exported to South Korea, Seoul will not implement its revised sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) standards. The move effectively allows South Korea to keep its import ban on US beef that has been in place since early October.
Leading U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama, who is close to securing the democratic nomination for president, came out criticizing the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement.
The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions calls on the Korean government to repeal the US beef deal, stop the violence of the riot police and respect people's voices and rights.
South Korea decided Monday to put off the implementation of its decision to resume US beef imports, the agriculture ministry said in the wake of widespread protests.
