Pure Madness

Mad Cow mania is all over Korea. Since the first week of April, Koreans everywhere have been ready for war over President Lee Myung Bak's decision to reopen beef imports with the United States. The out lash has been significant. We're talking Vietnam War protest significant. In fact, in many ways the fall out resembles war: candle light vigils, beef boycotts, protests with over 80,000 people in attendance, barricades around The Blue House (Korea's White House), and even resignations of top government officials. This is no small matter.

The US has had two case of mad cow disease total. The first case occurred in December 2003 and was not even a US born cow; the cow was imported from Canada. The second case of mad cow occurred in September 2005, however, that cow was deemed a "downer" long before the disease was detected and was never deemed suitable for consumption. In addition, it was determined that the 2005 cow was born before the 2003 feed ban, therefore not a product of current regulations and procedures. Not a single case has been reported since.

In addition to new feed regulations following the two cases, in December 2006, a South Dakotan laboratory isolated a gene necessary for Mad Cow disease and ultimately created away of producing cows with out the gene, theoretically making an artificial immunity.

But these facts make no difference to South Koreans. They are beyond rational and instead believe American beef is unsafe and unsuitable with all the fervor, devotion and blind acceptance of a cultic following. They are even convinced that people of Asian decent are more susceptible to the disease than any other people group in the world (a notion with no scientific evidence). Koreans also believe that cows over 30 months old are more likely to carry the disease--another notion with no scientific evidence. It seems to me that the general populace of Korea would rather base policy on urban legend than on fact. Never mind that millions of Americans and people all across the world eat American beef everyday and go on living normal, unaffected lives.

The April deal President Lee made as part of a new free-trade agreement allowed all imports of American beef to resume, minus a few parts such as brain matter and the spinal cord (prior to the first case of American mad cow in 2003, South Korea was the US' number three importer of beef). However, the deal was destined to fail.

With unprecedented anger and fear, the Korean people have swayed their government. Most want the deal to be scrapped all together, keeping the trade routes closed. Some have agreed to compromise and ask that the government ban certain parts and all cattle over the age of 30 months. The government agreed to the later but anger and resentment remain.

In the wake of recent protests, Mr. Lee's entire cabinet has resigned in order to save face for their party's leader. But the people are still unsatisfied. Despite the resignations, despite the facts, despite the re-worked deal, many Koreans are still calling for President Lee's resignation.

Lee, who is still within his first 100 days of his first presidential term, now finds himself in a very precarious position. When elected, he was elected with an overwhelming majority of votes; in my province he received 70% of the voted. Now his approval rating is below 25% and he's revered on the same level as George Bush. As a result of lost confidence, Lee has been forced to scrap numerous plans from his campaigning days such as building a large shipping canal across the peninsula, east to west. (I should add that this was a ridiculous idea in the first place.)

It seems that the Korean president's position is in danger. It's not just the old people protesting--it's everyone, from ages 3 to 70. Even my students hate their new president and have drawn numerous cartoons of him in my class which often speculate whether his political madness is beef related.

In the meantime, backlash against Americans has begun. I've heard several stories in the last week of Americans being yelled at and spit on due to the beef controversy.