US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice insisted yesterday that US beef was safe to eat and urged South Koreans to accept their government's decision to lift a ban on the products.
Rice also said she hoped the beef controversy wouldn’t distract from important issues facing the US and South Korea, most notably the six-nation talks over North Korea’s nuclear program.
“In terms of differences that sometimes arise from trade disputes, they are normal in relations between states,” Rice told a news conference.
Rice arrived in Seoul a day after neighboring North Korea destroyed a cooling tower at its main nuclear facility. The demolition followed moves earlier this week by the US to lift sanctions against Pyongyang, in response to the nation submitting a long-delayed declaration of its nuclear programs.
“I expect that the North will live up to the obligations that it’s undertaken, to take those concerns seriously and to address them,” Rice said. “At the end of this, we have to have the abandonment of all programs, weapons and materials.”
In South Korea, the long-running nuclear issue has been of less public concern than Seoul’s agreement to lift a ban on US beef imports in April as a way to restore strained ties with Washington.
Activists have been staging daily rallies on the streets of Seoul to voice their concerns about possible health risks such as mad cow disease. As officials began inspecting US beef on Friday before it can reach markets, hundreds of labor activists blocked customs storage facilities.
“I can only say that American beef is safe and we hope that in time the South Korean people will listen to that and will be willing to listen to what their government is saying and what we’re saying,” Rice said earlier en route to Seoul. “The US believes strongly in the safety of its product.”
US beef had been banned from South Korea for most of the past four-and-a-half years, since the first case of mad cow disease in the US was discovered in late 2003. In the wake of public outrage over plans to resume shipments of US beef, the entire South Korean Cabinet has offered to resign and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has reshuffled his top advisers.
Seoul agreed to resume US beef imports only after US producers agreed to limit shipments to meat from cattle younger than 30 months, believed less susceptible to mad cow disease. The restriction has been deemed a transitional step that will be lifted when conditions change in the South.
“It will take time for that risk to be erased from the minds of the Korean public,” South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said.
A small but loud and angry group of about 15 sign-carrying protesters gathered outside the South Korean Foreign Ministry where Rice was meeting with government officials.
“Stop Rice and Mad Cow,” said one placard. “We Don’t Need US Troops. We Don’t Need Mad Cows,” read another.
A squad of black-clad police surrounded the anti-US demonstration, which was minuscule compared to earlier rallies that drew 80,000 people at their peak but have since dwindled.
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