Mass Protest Brings Temporary Victory for South Koreans

Thomas Riggins

The South Korean people won a temporary victory this week when the government backed down on plans to let American beef be imported into the country. American beef is not properly inspected due to the power of the beef lobby and the collusion of the Bush administration and corrupt members of Congress. This means anyone eating American beef is at risk for Mad Cow Disease.

Korea is one of many countries that has banned American beef. The new right wing government had planned to reimport American beef as a gesture to the Bush administration, regardless of the health threat to its own people. The people took to the streets.

After "large weekend protests", according to AP, the ruling party was forced to pressure the government to put off its plan. To ensure complete victory the people will have to keep up the pressure until the government abandons its plan to collaborate with the American beef industry entirely. The South Korean people are fighting back when their government tries to expose them to this deadly disease, let's hope the American people will wake up to this danger and follow suit.