South Korean housewives launch campaign to stop U.S. beef

 No comments  
 E-mail Story
 Print Story
  Share

 digg it!
 Facebook
 del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit

Text Size: 

Tools Sponsor

By The Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea — A group of South Korean housewives said Tuesday it will start a campaign to get the government to halt recently resumed American beef imports.

South Korea shut its doors to American beef in December 2003 after a mad cow disease case was found in the U.S., then partially reopened its market last year. It agreed to import only boneless meat from cattle under 30 months old, which are thought to be less at risk of carrying the illness.

About 230 housewives throughout the country will routinely check stores to note whether U.S. beef is being sold, and where in the country the beef originated, said Go Bong-kang, a member of the monitoring group.

[+]Enlarge

South Korean women display banners calling attention to mad cow disease at an anti-U.S. rally at downtown Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, June 12, 2007. A group of South Korean housewives said Tuesday they will start a campaign to get the government to halt recently resumed American beef imports. The sign reads "We oppose the mad cow disease from U.S.." (AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man)

South Korean women display banners calling attention to mad cow disease at an anti-U.S. rally at downtown Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, June 12, 2007. A group of South Korean housewives said Tuesday they will start a campaign to get the government to halt recently resumed American beef imports. The sign reads "We oppose the mad cow disease from U.S.." (AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man)

The group will also check U.S. beef prices to see if they are indeed cheaper than South Korean beef as the government claims, Go said.

The housewives will also launch campaigns to raise people’s awareness of the risk of mad cow disease, and will demand the government halt importing the meat, she added.

“Our ultimate goal is to have the government stop U.S. beef imports,” Go said.

The U.S. has been urging South Korea to further open its market, the third-largest U.S. beef destination after Japan and Mexico before the 2003 ban.

Last week, South Korea briefly stopped issuing quarantine certificates — required to pass customs inspection — for American beef shipments, after some meant for domestic U.S. consumption were found to have been mistakenly exported to South Korea. The de facto ban was soon lifted after a U.S. confirmation that, except for the mistakenly sent 66.4 tons of beef, other shipments met export standards.

In another food trade development, a shipment of South Korean rice headed toward the United States on Tuesday, the first time the country highly protective of its staple food has done so.

The 2-ton, $146,000 shipment is part of 52.5 tons of rice that a Korean-American businessman in Los Angeles, Warren Jung, is importing, said Song Mi-ryong, an official of the North Jeolla provincial government in the country’s southwest.

Koreans living in Los Angeles were expected to be the main consumers of the Korean rice, Song said.

South Korea had been short of rice for decades since the 1950-53 war with North Korea decimated the country. It was only in the 1990s that the country’s rice production exceeded demand.

The country has not exported any rice because it remains expensive and South Korea has been wary of opening its own market to foreign imports.  Korean rice is about three to four times as expensive as rice produced in the U.S.

The Agriculture Ministry said it approved the rice export because the amount was small.

Rice was a delicate issue in free trade negotiations between South Korea and the U.S. earlier this year, as Seoul tried to ward o*ff U.S. pressure to open its market.  Rice was ultimately excluded from the trade deal that now awaits U.S. and South Korean legislative approval.