Spoiling for a Fight: South Korea Resists Us Beef Deal

The thousands of candles flickering in one of the city's main squares made the scene look like a giant birthday party.

But this was no celebration for President Lee Myung-bak after his first 100 days in office. "Lee out, Lee out," the demonstrators in the center of Seoul chanted, their banners flapping, including one of that old favorite, Che Guevara.

A small knot suddenly formed around a man in his 50s, resplendent in military fatigues, with a little white and red Republic of Korea flag sticking out of his top pocket. The TV cameras lit him up and the man ? an ex-reservist and not the general that everyone thought he was ? proceeded to give his sound bite to the jostling press.

"I saw the demonstrators on TV and I wanted to come down and express my sympathy and support for them," the man said, standing close to coach-loads of riot police staying discreetly out of sight so as to keep tension to a minimum.

There are many like the ex-reservist, who have come to show solidarity with the demonstrators. They come from all sectors of society, not just the young. A smartly dressed businessman, 46, who declined to give his name said this was the first time he had taken part in protests since he was a student in the 1980s.

For a whole month now, first hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands of South Koreans have congregated in the center of the capital amid the office towers and the blazing neon ads. They have assembled in a show of mass discontent over Lee's abrupt decision to allow imports of US beef into South Korea. Overnight, the Bulldozer, as Lee is nicknamed, saw his popularity plummet after winning a landslide victory in December.

At least Gordon Brown had a honeymoon until he foundered over his 10p tax blunder. Lee had no such luxury. The public went ballistic over fears ? no matter how exaggerated or unfounded ? of BSE, or mad cow disease. People were incensed that, during a visit to the US in April, Lee agreed to accept all cuts of beef from cattle of any age, whereas other trading partners of the US, such as Japan, still refuse to import older American beef.

Coincidentally, South Koreans could do with importing lots of US beef. South Korean beef tastes exquisite but costs $100 (?52) a kilogram, well out of reach of most of the public. American beef costs half that.

US cattle farmers could use unlimited access to the South Korean market too. South Korea was America's third largest beef market after Japan and Mexico until Seoul imposed a blanket ban in late 2003 following a mad cow disease outbreak in the US. South Korea subsequently relaxed the ban but, prior to Lee's ill-fated decision in April, still only allowed in boneless beef from cattle under 30 months of age.

Earlier in the day, before the nightly candle vigils got underway, Lee bowed to public pressure. The former industrialist said he would not allow imports of US beef older than 30 months without public support. He added that he would seek changes to the agreement that paved the way for a resumption of unrestricted US beef imports, even though that might scupper chances of a separate free trade deal with the US. But organizers vowed to continue their daily demonstrations until they saw the US sign on the dotted line of a reworked agreement.

"The ball has simply been tossed back to the US," said a 34-year-old theatre actor, her voice hoarse from shouting. "We don't see this as a victory yet and we will go on demonstrating until we see what the Americans will do."

She spoke as her fellow organizers handed out candles from a flatbed truck parked outside city hall, where Lee once served as Seoul mayor. The actor said the demonstrations had not yet assumed an anti-American tone, but had the potential to do so if they continued. The US still maintains some 30,000 troops in South Korea, more than 50 years after the end of the Korean war, and some South Koreans are unhappy with the way the US tries to boss Seoul around, especially over policy towards the hermit kingdom to the north.

A former diplomat, Nam Sang-wook, already detected an anti-American motif in the demonstrations.

"There is a small but vocal anti-US lobby that is taking advantage of the beef issue," he said. "They have the support of the losers of globalisation, such as small farmers, environmentalists and trade unionists. It's a big alliance growing like a snowball. It could even endanger the government."

Others say Lee committed a huge blunder by not softening up the public first. Coming just before he was due to meet George Bush, Lee is seen as cosying up to a lame-duck president and putting hopes of clinching a free trade deal with the US ahead of health concerns.

There has been a huge panic over the risks of catching BSE even though the chances are tiny ? there have been only three cases in the US since 2003. Rumors have circulated over the internet in this highly digitally connected country. There were stories that cheap US beef was destined for schoolchildren or that people could die by tasting just 3 grams of older US beef, stoking a collective hysteria that the government has been helpless to stop.

"There was a perception that the new government did not care for the health of its own people and placed more importance on closer relations with the US," said Nam.

Analysts sympathetic to the government worry that Lee's request to tweak the April beef deal will set a bad precedent for future trade negotiations.

"It will encourage similar demands for changes in future agreements," said Hyun Jung-taik, head of South Korea's leading think tank, the Korea Development Institute. Hyun, who is credited as one of the architects of South Korea's economic success, confesses to being puzzled by the public's reaction on the beef issue.

"Certain groups have an emotional anti-American attitude. If it had been an English cow, perhaps there would not have been the same reaction," said Hyun, who fears that the issue has become so charged that protesters will not be satisfied by any amount of fiddling with the deal and will keep moving the goal posts and target the free trade accord, which is waiting for congressional ratification in the US.

Lee's critics say he handled the whole issue badly from the outset, starting with the lack of consultation, even though the decision in principle to accept US beef was taken by the previous administration. Lee ? with the requisite amount of debate ? could simply have said he was following up a decision already agreed to by his predecessor. Instead, the strongly pro-market Lee, who came into office promising 7% annual growth, is presiding over a slowing economy dogged by rising inflation, and fighting a war of attrition against the demonstrators' daily calls for his removal.