South Korea's entire Cabinet offered to resign yesterday as President Lee Myung-bak struggled to dampen weeks of public uproar over the planned resumption of US beef imports.
Spokesman Lee Dong-kwan did not say whether the president would accept the resignations.
Eight senior presidential secretaries had already offered to quit last week to take responsibility for the beef dispute, but Lee has not decided whether to accept those resignations.
South Korean shares closed 1.9 percent lower yesterday amid growing political instability, inflation fears and expected monetary tightening in major economies, analysts said.
The KOSPI index ended down 34.58 points at 1,774.38, the lowest level since April 18, when it ended the day at 1.771.90.
The government agreed in April to lift almost all restrictions imposed on imports of US beef over fears of mad cow disease. The decision sparked weeks of protests demanding the government scrap or renegotiate the beef deal amid perceptions it did not do enough to protect citizens.
Larger rallies were expected later yesterday, with civic groups saying hundreds of thousands of people would hold candlelight vigils throughout the country.
“President Lee hasn’t listened to the voices of his people. We still don’t have a genuine democracy in our country,” said Jang Dae-hyun, a spokesman for a civic group that has organized protests.
Police said they would mobilize about 21,000 riot officers in Seoul and barricade roads leading to the presidential Blue House.
Police also placed shipping containers in a major city intersection near the Blue House, prompting serious traffic congestion.
Rallies against the deal turned violent on Sunday and the government said it would take tougher steps against protesters if the violence continues.
Meanwhile, thousands of conservative activists supporting the deal staged protests yesterday in a Seoul plaza where anti-US beef rallies were to take place later.
“It’s time to put out the candles,” said Suh Jung-kap, a conservative activist at the site.
The protesters “are only interested in overthrowing the Lee Myung-bak government, not the safety of public health,” he said.
Suh said that members of his group would try to prevent opposing protesters from entering the site, raising the potential of clashes between the two sides.
Lee’s government said it has asked the US not to export beef from older cattle — considered at greater risk of mad cow disease — but rejected calls for a complete renegotiation of the accord, citing possible diplomatic and trade disputes with the US.
Lee dispatched several official delegations to Washington on Monday to seek assurances the US will not ship beef from cattle older than 30 months, even though that is allowed under the agreement.
Both Seoul and Washington insist US beef is safe, citing the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health. But protesters say they can’t trust what Lee says.
Scientists say mad cow disease spreads when farmers feed cattle recycled meat and bones from infected animals. The US banned recycled feeds in 1997. In humans, eating meat products contaminated with the illness is linked to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare and fatal malady.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
NOVEL METHODS: The PLA has adopted new approaches and recently conducted three combat readiness drills at night which included aircraft and ships, an official said Taiwan is monitoring China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises for changes in their size or pattern as the nation prepares for president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comment at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, in response to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu’s (王定宇) questions. China continues to employ a carrot-and-stick approach, in which it applies pressure with “gray zone” tactics, while attempting to entice Taiwanese with perks, Tsai said. These actions aim to help Beijing look like it has
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,