Friday May 9, 07:04 AM
Candlelit protests planned in SKorea ahead of US beef imports
SEOUL (AFP) - Thousands of people will rally across South Korea Friday to protest the planned resumption of US beef imports as the government struggles to dispel a growing scare over mad cow disease, organisers said.
Candlelit vigils in the capital and nine other cities are expected to draw a record number of protesters since the campaign began a week earlier following proposals from Internet bloggers, they said.
"Join us to stop mad cows," the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, an influential activist group, said on its website. It urged people to take part in a vigil in central Seoul.
Three opposition parties urged President Lee Myung-Bak's government to delay the resumption of US beef imports, planned for next week, and demanded renegotiation of the accord with the United States which opened up the market.
The parties have agreed to jointly introduce a parliamentary motion to press for the resignation of the agriculture minister, Chung Woon-Chun.
They also jointly called for a parliamentary probe into allegations that the new government rushed into a deal ahead of Lee's first summit with President George W. Bush last month.
On the eve of the summit Seoul agreed to lift its intermittent ban on US beef, which was imposed in 2003 over mad cow concerns.
Opening the beef market is an essential precondition for US approval of a separate free trade pact.
The main opposition United Democratic Party said it would seek a court injunction next week to suspend the resumption of imports.
Lee Myung-Bak's conservative government, which has a parliamentary majority, has been striving to counter the online and street protests citing mad cow disease concerns.
Lee has accused opponents of the free trade pact of spreading scare stories about the dangers of US beef. His government has promised to halt imports should any new mad cow case be reported in the US.
Seoul and Washington say the risk is infinitesimal. But thousands of people, many of them apparently responding to Internet scare campaigns and a recent TV current affairs programme, have staged protests.
A web petition calling for Lee's impeachment has received 1.2 million signatures. Opinion surveys quoted by newspapers showed his support rate has plunged to between 25 and 29 percent, a record low for a new president.
"The debate over mad cow disease, which has shaken the nation for the past week, must end," the JoongAng Daily said in an editorial. "We shouldn't waste our time and resources on an issue that has no substance."
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