Comments on: Mad as hell over mad cow

By: aibori

aibori — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 05:49:42 +0000

So idiotic….if they’re going to get so fired up they should at least get the facts straight and not buy every little detail the media feeds to them (media which is horrible btw. It seems like S. Korean reporters can say almost anything without having to back it up with facts).

By: Addict

Addict — Fri, 23 May 2008 17:50:11 +0000

“People in the US dine on cows from Australia and New Zealand while importing their inferior beef to Korea.” –from Jeon’s post.

That sums up what I feel is one of the major problems about this thing. It’s not that U.S. cows are just naturally bad or disease-carrying. The fact is that they keep the edible ones in the U.S. and sell off the ones with inferior quality that they wouldn’t sell to Americans. Ha, I wouldn’t want to eat those cows. I’m not surprised that you can find ‘mad’ ones there.

(Disclaimer: I do realize this issue is a whole lot more complicated than just this facet, but I just wanted to talk about this one particular problem.)

p.s. To a lot of people saying this protest looks fun…Actually, not really. I understand getting together for an important cause can be fun in its own, but these things are quite a tragedy…thousands of people should not have to gather and protest for something like this.

By: k-obsessed

k-obsessed — Wed, 21 May 2008 04:41:14 +0000

Wow the protest looks like so much fun in itself, wish I was there!^_^

By: bella

bella — Tue, 20 May 2008 13:15:11 +0000

what´s the big point in protesting against this?! Just don´t buy nor eat meat from the US if you dun like it. gosh.. so childish I think and especially when celebs like se7en are also participating in this, after all they´re models of S korea and idols, so everything they do does have an influence on the younger generation in korea and Asia…

By: metamorphallic

metamorphallic — Tue, 20 May 2008 07:53:21 +0000

There has also been talk of stopping all beef imports, which is ridiculous, and likely an exaggeration from a couple renegade reporters. Korea does not have the ability to sustain itself through it’s own agriculture, unless a couple million Koreans plan move out of Seoul and start farming and raising livestock. I don’t think US beef imports will push Koreans out of their own market. They would still be able to choose which beef they buy.

By: sf

sf — Tue, 20 May 2008 07:52:33 +0000

…the fear that cheap American beef will threaten Korean farmers is understandable. However, Korea is pitched over the top about the ‘dangers’ of American beef. But unfortunately, in some sense, the way the Korean media as been reporting things, the general societal paranoia is kind of understandable. I personally feel like this mad cow ruckus is simply 80% propaganda.

ugh….and the reputation the new Korean president is cultivating is hardly helping things either. There is no better way to polarize citizens into a mob than making the citizens that feel like their very own president is spineless and ignoring the country’s best interest. What Korea needs right now is a strong leader who knows how to consistently put forth Korea’s best interests while solidifying her reputation on the global field without ruffling “too many” international feathers.

That baby with the flag is ridiculously cute.

By: bebo

bebo — Mon, 19 May 2008 18:35:03 +0000

I agree with Jeon that FUD has blown this protest to such proportions. I believe the images and video that the Korean media is showing (over and over again, I’ve heard) is from the undercover investigation of the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company plant in California towards the end of last year, beginning of this year.. In a nutshell, the investigation found that this plant had questionable slaughtering processes and was in violation of slaughtering cows for distribution that are supposedly not meant for consumption. Although no BSE or mad cows disease was found in any of their beef, the plant has since been shut down and all the meat was recalled. This recall is the biggest one to date…resulting in thousands of pounds of beef and millions of dollars lost. However, the US caught it and has since put even stricter guidelines on inspection of both beef and beef plants to ensure that Hallmark/Westland doesn’t happen again. It’s unfortunate that the Korean media took this story and just ran with it…adding more hysteria and paranoia to an already paranoid society. I don’t believe that the US is exporting “crap” to Korea. I’m hearing that Koreans feel the US is keeping the “good” beef for domestic consumption while exporting the “bad” beef to Korea and/or the US doesn’t consume our own beef but rather beef imported from Canada/Australia…which is absurd. Unless I see real numbers and evidence, I also don’t buy that the FTA would devastate Korea’s domestic economy.

By: Ahn

Ahn — Mon, 19 May 2008 02:42:46 +0000

i’m not worried about the mad cow disease but i am concerned for the Korean farmers who will be pushed out of the domestic market by cheap US beef.
a FTA will be devastating to the Korean economy, which should really focus more on developing secure food supply domestically instead of importing crap.
the UN has already declared global food crisis. Is the president doing anything about the rural exodus?? (also, he is a money-grabbing, opportunistic, American-puppet and i don’t think he has the nation’s best interest’s in mind.)

By: xy

xy — Mon, 19 May 2008 00:50:45 +0000

i hope the fta between the us and korea will come through, as it has a lot of potential for korea, even if korea gains relatively less than the us right now. if the fta really does come through it will mark the start of FTAs between chinna, japan and southeast asia with s-korea, as these regions will start a trading competition over korea.

By: vertigo

vertigo — Mon, 19 May 2008 00:29:52 +0000

i still eat beef, and i’m fine.. I don’t know how this whole thing came about, but it really seems like propaganda for another issue. I mean I don’t remember the US ever calling them “Commies”… That term is used for noth koreans, because THEY ARE communists.. I don’t understand how this just surged out of nowhere…
Have they heard of anybody in the US dying of a disease related to mad cow??? I just don’t get where this anger is coming from… Its only normal for people to be cautious, but this is too much…