Dance With Us, GIR. Dance With Us into Oblivion...

President Lee Myung-bak, who came into office shortly after I came to Korea, recently decided to lift a ban on importing American beef. This ban was in effect since 2003, when a (Canadian born) cow in Washington was discovered to have mad cow disease. Since then there have been two other cases in the US.

Limited US beef import was allowed starting last year, when stricter regulations were put into effect, but even that was stopped when bone fragments were discovered in some shipments. Golly.

Despite assurances from both President Lee and President Bush that our beef is safe, the people are still stricken with fear that they're all going to die from mad cow disease. Some current affairs show told everyone that Koreans are more susceptible to the disease, and they questioned the safety of US beef. This was announced by medical officials to be a false claim, but the damage wasn't really repaired. Most people seem to think that Lee has sold out to Bush and is trying to curry American favor by lifting the ban. The people have taken to protesting, almost daily now, and are demanding Lee's removal from office. They've succeeded in getting him to delay the agreement with the US twice.

I saw a protest in early May, outside the Lotte Department Store, and another one in the same place about a week ago. There were a few hundred people there, with candles, posters put up everywhere, big cutouts of cowheads with an American flag pattern and crazy-looking facial expressions. It was pretty organized. There was a stage with a sound system, along with lots of vans and traffic direction.

The protests in Seoul are much bigger, but the atmosphere seems the same, from what I can tell from the news. It's mostly just candlelight, chants, and songs. Some people have been beaten up by riot police, but nothing major.

It's surprising to see this much of a reaction. They're not really considering how much beef Americans eat and how we don't die from it. Korean protesters interviewed for tv and newspapers are saying they're afraid their children will die from eating beef in a restaurant. They're demanding their new president, who won by a landslide, step down over this, but aren't too concerned over the falling economy and recent squabbling with North Korea.

Jeez, get a life.