Where’s the beef?
The recent continuing protests by South Koreans over the government’s agreement to resume US beef imports have absolutely nothing to do with beef and everything to do with politics. In this respect, South Korea is no different from other democracies where any hot-button issue is used for political purposes: Protesters are using anti-US phobia as a tool to try to bring down the government of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.
There are many South Koreans who do not like the US and will take every or any opportunity to protest against the US presence in South Korea. The last time South Koreans took to the streets to protest against the US (because of a traffic accident involving US soldiers), the general response in the US to the demonstrations was: “Why are we there? Let’s just leave and let South Korea fend for itself against the North.” The protests in South Korea died away, and some “normality” returned.
Now, beef is being used by the anti-US, anti-government lobby as an excuse to demonstrate against Lee and the South Korean government. Scientists agree there is no cause for alarm concerning US beef now. But in taking to the streets, the protesters are really saying no to the US — US beef is just a red herring. By saying no to the US, the protesters are, by extension, rejecting the Lee government, which has been somewhat closer to the US compared with previous administrations.
So the question arises again. Why is the US there? There are tens of thousands of troops babysitting South Korea that could be better deployed in Afghanistan or in other places around the world where they are needed for actual combat. Why do we insist on staying put in places where people hate to have us there? If they don’t want our help, we should just say “adios.”
There are those fearful of North Korea invading the South again were the US to leave. It is doubtful, but always a possibility with the unbalanced leadership in the North. But Americans watching tens of thousands of South Koreans — a vocal but tiny group — protesting against US beef, which Americans eat every night, raises ire, to say the least. Do South Koreans believe Americans are stupid and eat mad-cow disease laden meat? Or perhaps they believe the same about Japanese, Canadian, European or people in other areas where US beef is imported and has been declared safe.
One can only wonder what South Koreans would think if all of a sudden all of LG’s and Samsung’s products were pulled off US store shelves, or Americans decided not to buy US$8 billion in autos and auto parts from South Korea. What if for political reasons, a rumor arose that some South Korean IT products use chemical components that could possibly cause cancer.
Sensible people should understand the protests against US beef have almost nothing to do with the actual quality of the beef for the most part. There are some activists who will protest against beef no matter what because they are animal rights activists, and use the beef issue as a way of urging people to eat a vegetarian diet. But it is all politics.
And for the multitudes protesting against US beef, I can only wonder what you want. Do you want the US to withdraw and leave you to the North? Trust me, if most Americans are polled, with candlelight vigils in Seoul every night urging the government to ban US beef based on unsupportable hysteria, the answer will be “adios,” or actually an-nyong-hi kye-ship-sio, and “Keep your Hyundais, Kias, LGs and Samsungs, too. We can buy that stuff from Taiwan and Japan.”
LEE LONG-HWA
New York
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