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Turmoil over US beef
IN politics, a week is a long time, as the saying goes. A flawed decision of the government could change dramatically the political landscape. Volatile public opinion is one of the challenges politicians face. This has occurred in South Korea.
The popularity of South Korea's new president, Lee Myung-bak (66), who was elected with a landslide victory, plummeted to under 20% within a matter of 100 days. His repeated stumbles culminated in a televised apology last month for his mishandling of sensitive matters, including the import of beef from the US. On June 19, the president had to apologise again to people for the insensitive way his administration had handled the issue of import of beef from the US.
On June 20, he replaced 9 out of 10 presidential aides, hoping to restore public trust in his four-month old administration. He indicated that he was giving up his signature project and one of his key election promises -- digging a canal across South Korea -- in a gesture of changing his leadership style.
Reversal of political fortune of the president
Though Lee's margin of victory in last December's presidential election was the biggest ever in South Korea, the import of US beef has diminished his popularity. Lee had won 48.6% of the votes. His victory handed back power to the conservative Grand National Party (GNP). Lee took over on February 25, 2008, replacing President Roh Moo-hyun of the liberal United New Democratic Party (UNDP). In April, in a parliamentary election, President Lee's party won a majority (153 seats), and the three opposition parties about a third of the seats, in the 299-member National Assembly. So far he was enjoying his political honeymoon. But a misreading of the public mood over import of US beef has sent Lee's approval ratings into a nosedive, leaving him caught between a promise to a key ally and the anger of his own people. After weeks of protests, the government announced on June 3 -- Lee's 100th day in office -- that it was backing away from an agreement to resume import of American beef, which was banned after the mad cow disease outbreak in United States. Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-chun said that the government was acting to "humbly accept the people's will," following large street protests over the weekend. A poll published in the national newspaper Joong Ang Ilbo on June 3 said less than 20% of Koreans supported him. "Lee cannot properly run the country with such a low approval rating," said Im Hyug-baeg, a professor of politics at Korea University. The president's troubles began on April 18, just hours ahead of a meeting with President Bush at Camp David seeking to remove a major thorn in their relations, and the two countries announced that South Korea would resume importing American beef. This is a much-criticised decision because American beef has been absent from South Korea for most of the past four and a half years amid a ban prompted by the first US mad cow disease (beef tainted with BSE-Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) detected in 2003. In humans, eating meat products contaminated with the virus is could lead to a variant of Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, with fatal result. The deal struck a nerve in South Korea, where it was seen as a brazen attempt to curry favour with Washington and win support from members of Congress for a free-trade agreement between the two nations. The people felt that Lee had acted rashly and ignored their concerns about health. "The president neglected the process of collecting the people's opinions in the course of the beef negotiations," college student Ahn Kwang-soo said at a rally that drew some 40,000 people. "He should have been more careful." Critics also complain that rather than acting as the president of a nation, Lee has behaved like the corporate CEO he once was, treating South Koreans more like employees than citizens. Lee tried to make amends last month, going on national television to apologise for his handling of the beef deal. The response from the public was an escalation in protests. On June 10, the entire cabinet offered to resign following a public uproar over the planned resumption of US beef import into the country. The decision by Lee's government to postpone implementation of the agreement is likely to raise hackles among members of Congress from cattle states, who say a free-trade agreement (FTA) with South Korea had little chance of passing unless US beef returned to South Korean markets. The South Korean opposition decided to boycott the parliament to pressurise the president to re-negotiate the deal of April 18. The beef pact has come under severe criticism for more than a month amid widespread public perception that it fails to protect the nation from mad cow disease. Why has the president become suddenly unpopular?
Though Lee's margin of victory in last December's presidential election was the biggest ever in South Korea, the import of US beef has diminished his popularity. Lee had won 48.6% of the votes. His victory handed back power to the conservative Grand National Party (GNP). Lee took over on February 25, 2008, replacing President Roh Moo-hyun of the liberal United New Democratic Party (UNDP). In April, in a parliamentary election, President Lee's party won a majority (153 seats), and the three opposition parties about a third of the seats, in the 299-member National Assembly. So far he was enjoying his political honeymoon. But a misreading of the public mood over import of US beef has sent Lee's approval ratings into a nosedive, leaving him caught between a promise to a key ally and the anger of his own people. After weeks of protests, the government announced on June 3 -- Lee's 100th day in office -- that it was backing away from an agreement to resume import of American beef, which was banned after the mad cow disease outbreak in United States. Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-chun said that the government was acting to "humbly accept the people's will," following large street protests over the weekend. A poll published in the national newspaper Joong Ang Ilbo on June 3 said less than 20% of Koreans supported him. "Lee cannot properly run the country with such a low approval rating," said Im Hyug-baeg, a professor of politics at Korea University. The president's troubles began on April 18, just hours ahead of a meeting with President Bush at Camp David seeking to remove a major thorn in their relations, and the two countries announced that South Korea would resume importing American beef. This is a much-criticised decision because American beef has been absent from South Korea for most of the past four and a half years amid a ban prompted by the first US mad cow disease (beef tainted with BSE-Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) detected in 2003. In humans, eating meat products contaminated with the virus is could lead to a variant of Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, with fatal result. The deal struck a nerve in South Korea, where it was seen as a brazen attempt to curry favour with Washington and win support from members of Congress for a free-trade agreement between the two nations. The people felt that Lee had acted rashly and ignored their concerns about health. "The president neglected the process of collecting the people's opinions in the course of the beef negotiations," college student Ahn Kwang-soo said at a rally that drew some 40,000 people. "He should have been more careful." Critics also complain that rather than acting as the president of a nation, Lee has behaved like the corporate CEO he once was, treating South Koreans more like employees than citizens. Lee tried to make amends last month, going on national television to apologise for his handling of the beef deal. The response from the public was an escalation in protests. On June 10, the entire cabinet offered to resign following a public uproar over the planned resumption of US beef import into the country. The decision by Lee's government to postpone implementation of the agreement is likely to raise hackles among members of Congress from cattle states, who say a free-trade agreement (FTA) with South Korea had little chance of passing unless US beef returned to South Korean markets. The South Korean opposition decided to boycott the parliament to pressurise the president to re-negotiate the deal of April 18. The beef pact has come under severe criticism for more than a month amid widespread public perception that it fails to protect the nation from mad cow disease. Why has the president become suddenly unpopular?
- The beef dispute has placed him in an awkward situation. It is thought that he does not care about the health of his people, and bowed to the pressure of Washington to allow US beef into the country. Although protests started with the beef dispute, they have now broadened into a wider attack on Lee's administration. On the whole, Lee has been seen as a weak and fault-prone leader.
- Analysts say the US beef issue is being used by the opposition as a kind of stealth weapon in order to check the president's neo-liberal policies, which include privatisation of numerous state-companies and services. President Lee seems unlikely to push through his pro-business measures, such as opening up more to foreign investors and getting tough on labour unions through parliament, because of lack of public support. Lee's economic agenda is now being threatened by his crumbling support.
- With inflation at a seven year high, his promised 7% economic growth for the year seems unreachable. During the election campaign last December, he had raised high expectations from his economic agenda. But now he is in trouble, partly because of unforeseen high price of oil and slowdown of global economy.
- He has unnecessarily pursued an aggressive policy toward North Korea, rejecting the "sunshine" policy of the past governments (US was pleased with Lee's policy), which has stopped the South Koreans from meeting their near and dear ones in North Korea. Furthermore, economic activities with North Korea have taken a severe jolt. In the election, North Korea hardly figured in the voters' decision to elect him.
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