Paper Topic:

US beef imports in South Korea

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US Beef Imports in South Korea

South Korea by 2003 was one of the three biggest consumers of US beef (Song ) In the same year , South Korea decided to impose a ban on United States beef imports after an outbreak of the mad cow disease was reported in the United States . The spotted disease according to Columbus (126 ) was the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy disease (BSE During this time , South Korea had imported beef worth about 8000 million dollars . The ban heavily impacted on the

American beef business and a solution to the problem had to be found . After some talks with the South Korean president were held , the ban was to be lifted on May 15th but due to protests that resulted the ban was delayed but the protests were not without a cause . Is the ban on US beef importation to South Korea supposed to be lifted ? This is what basically this research will focus on (Columbus 126

It is in a bid to strengthen the relationship between the United States and South Korea that the president , Lee Myung-bak decided to partially lift the ban on US beef meat importation to South Korea . He did not consider that US had already been established as the host of the deadly disease , Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE ) by the World Organization for Animal Health (Columbus 97 ) Although Lee had won with a landslide , his fame sharply declined soon after he expressed his intention to lift the ban . Angry South Koreans engaged the riot police in running battles by protesting in the streets at Seoul . This was something that had not been witnessed for the last 20 years in the history of South Korea but it is obvious there were very good reasons behind this (Ahn

One reason why South Koreans decided to march in the streets was because they knew the health risks that their president was subjecting them to . According to the surveys that had been done on the said disease , cows that are more than thirty months old are more prone to be attacked by the disease than those that are below this age (Columbus F 95 ) For this reason , the beef trade relations were revised after some negotiations were held and it was agreed that United States should resume exporting its beef meat to South Korea on condition that no meat of a cow that is beyond thirty months old would be exported . The argument was that the disease hides itself in the fully developed bones and a cow of less than 30 months does not have these bones therefore it is less vulnerable to the disease (Columbus 99

When it comes to issues that affect the entire population 's health everything should be addressed properly . So the few people who directed the president to lift the ban misled him as there were some serious repercussions that they could not see . The public health is a very delicate issue and should be approached...

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