South Korean Cabinet Offers Resignation Over Us Beef Imports

South Korea's entire cabinet today offered to resign as the president, Lee Myung-bak, desperately sought to calm outrage over his decision to lift restrictions on US beef imports.

"The prime minister offered the cabinet's resignation at the regular meeting this morning [with Lee]," a spokeswoman at the prime minister's office said, in what was seen as a response to unrelenting anti-government protests during the past month.

The street demonstrations, including candlelit vigils, began when Lee agreed to lift restrictions on US beef imports to clear the way for congressional approval for a bilateral free trade treaty.

The decision backfired spectacularly as critics accused Lee of putting relations with the US ahead of public concerns over BSE, or mad cow disease. Despite the scientific evidence, the South Korean public fears the import of US beef that is more than 30 months old increases the risk of catching BSE.

The beef crisis has led to a slump in the polls for Lee, the former boss of Hyundai, who won a landslide victory in December and took office in February. The latest opinion polls show his popularity has plummeted to just under 20%.

What started as fears over BSE has spread to a broad campaign against the government over a host of grievances against Lee, who came into office promising more than he could deliver, including 7% economic growth.

In the latest protests, organizers said up to 1 million people were expected to turn out around the country - at least a third of them in the capital. Police issued their highest alert ahead of the protests, with 100,000 people expected to march in Seoul.

"President Lee hasn't listened to the voices of his people. We still don't have a genuine democracy in our country," Jang Dae-hyun, a spokesman for a civic group that has organized protests, told the Associated Press.

Truck drivers, following the lead of unions in countries across Asia and Europe, voted yesterday to go on strike over rising fuel prices. They ignored the government's $10.2bn (?5.2bn) financial aid package announced a day before, designed partly to cushion the impact of soaring energy costs.

The country's main KCTU trade union and four car unions were voting today on whether to back a call for a general strike next week against government policies. The mass protests have derailed, for now, attempts at economic reform by the conservative government, including tax cuts, mass privatization of major state-run firms and banks and efforts to open the country further to foreign investment.

The new parliament has been unable to sit because the opposition has boycotted its opening. Lee's government said it had asked the US not to export beef from older cattle considered at greater risk of mad cow disease but rejected calls for a complete renegotiation of the accord, citing possible diplomatic and trade disputes with the US.

Lee warned that surging prices for resources and slowing growth meant the economy was entering its roughest patch in a decade.

"Our economy is faced with a serious difficulty, with prices rising and the economy gradually slowing," he said in a speech to mark the 21st anniversary of pro-democracy protests that helped end years of autocratic rule.