SKorea unions may strike over beef imports, more talks set
Agence France Presse | 17 June 2008
SKorea unions may strike over beef imports, more talks set
SEOUL (AFP) - South Korean unions on Tuesday threatened a general strike in protest of a US beef import deal, as negotiators in Washington tried to find a way out of the crisis shaking the Seoul government.
The conservative administration of President Lee Myung-Bak is desperate to revise its agreement to resume the imports after tens of thousands of protesters citing mad cow disease fears took to the streets in recent weeks.
Less than four months into his term, Lee is also beset by a truckers’ strike against high oil prices, which is beginning to hit the export-dependent economy.
Separately, the militant Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) said Tuesday that a majority of its members had voted for a general strike next month to protest the beef deal and other government policies.
"The results showed a public sense of crisis about the unilateral way President Lee Myung-Bak has so far run state affairs," said KCTU spokeswoman Woo Moon-Sook.
The confederation said about 512,000 people were asked to cast their votes and 271,000 responded, with about 70 percent supporting a strike.
The umbrella union grouping has a history of staging politically motivated strikes. It was unclear how many would support the stoppage tentatively called for July 2.
Trade Minister Kim Jong-Hoon has met US Trade Representative Susan Schwab twice in Washington in hopes of securing extra safeguards for beef imports.
The agreement to resume the imports, suspended in 2003 after a mad cow case, was reached in April. But it has not gone into force due to the storm of Internet-fuelled protests, which caught Lee’s government by surprise.
Lee, addressing an IT forum on Tuesday, said the spread of "falsehoods" through the Internet and of spam email is threatening rational thinking.
Kim and Schwab agreed to delay a third meeting scheduled for Monday because of unresolved technical issues, the two sides said. Ministers were now due to meet Tuesday afternoon in Washington.
"We remain committed to finding a mutually agreeable path forward," said USTR spokeswoman Gretchen Hamel.
The foreign ministry in Seoul said Kim and Schwab also held an "unofficial consultation" Monday afternoon at the request of the US side.
Schwab brought a revised proposal to that meeting, Yonhap news agency quoted an unidentified Seoul official as saying.
"Although there are some improvements in the revised proposal, it is still far from our expectations," the official said without elaborating.
Both governments see the risk of the human form of mad cow disease as virtually non-existent. But the protests in South Korea have also showcased wider dissatisfaction, with many calling for Lee’s resignation.
Lee is soon expected to announce a reshuffle after the entire cabinet last week offered to resign to give him leeway.
Seoul insists it cannot meet protesters’ demands to renegotiate the beef deal, saying it would jeopardise a separate, wider free trade agreement and cast doubt on South Korea’s good faith as a negotiator.
South Korea wants a voluntary ban by US exporters on the shipment of cattle aged over 30 months, which are seen as potentially more prone to the disease.
But sources quoted by Yonhap said negotiators were having difficulty agreeing on some form of government guarantee for the voluntary ban.
The US apparently fears any official endorsement would breach World Trade Organisation rules.
