SEOUL — Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez yesterday assured South Koreans about the safety of U.S. beef amid a public hysteria over the imminent resumption of meat imports.
“We will be selling to Korea the same beef we all buy in the U.S., that we feed our children in the U.S.” Mr. Gutierrez told reporters yesterday. “Its standard is second to none.”
Fears of mad cow disease have been fanned by local farmers and anti-American groups after a surprise agreement last month between President Bush and President Lee Myung-bak under which Seoul will lift a five-year ban on U.S. beef imports.
The ban, imposed in 2003, was in response to fears of mad cow disease.
After the agreement, concerns were sparked by a television documentary that claimed Koreans are particularly susceptible to the human form of mad cow disease. Rumors flared in cyberspace, prompting tens of thousands to join street demonstrations in central Seoul and other cities.
Headlines and Internet discussions have been dominated by American beef scares — despite there being no current cases of mad cow disease in the United States.
U.S. beef imports are now being debated in the National Assembly, with the opposition demanding renegotiation of the Lee-Bush agreement.
Prior to 2003, South Korea was the world’s third largest market for U.S. beef.
Mr. Gutierrez, on a two-day visit to Seoul, met Mr. Lee and Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan to discuss ways to expedite a bilateral free-trade agreement brokered last year that is expected to increase trade by $20 billion but which awaits ratification by both countries.
Congress has threatened to quash the agreement if beef imports are not resumed.
Under intense public pressure last week, the agricultural ministry announced it would delay quarantine inspections of U.S. beef, scheduled to begin May 8, for 10 days.
Mr. Gutierrez called the delay “unfortunate.”
“We believe it is important to stick to agreements once reached,” he said.
With conservatives having swept December’s presidential elections and last month’s legislative elections, both sides say the issue has been politicized.
“It’s not about food safety, it’s political,” said Lee Kye-ahn, a legislator with South Korea’s opposition United Democratic Party. “Before the summit, we supposed that President Lee wanted to give some kind of present to his counterpart.”
Lim Jie-hyun, a nationalism expert at Hanyang University, said he thought a band of “anti-American nationalists” were making use of the beef issue for their own cause.
“Ordinary people are very concerned about health, and there are many rumors about,” he said.
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