Enforcing the Announcement on Resuming US Beef Import Is A Declaration of War against the People

In the end, the government is about to enforce the announcement on the new conditions reflecting fraudulent results of additional negotiation, when all peoples’ nationwide candlelight rally reaches 50 consecutive days to protect the safety of ourselves and family by recovering quarantine sovereignty and national health rights that the Lee administration transferred to the United States.      

Above all we were greatly astonished by the fact that the explanation of Lee administration is completely different from the press release from the USTR. The US government defines the characteristics of the so-called ‘additional negotiation’ a ‘discussion’, rather than a ‘negotiation’, which means that it was not the process between governments, thereby has no legal effects. The US government also made it clear that QSA for Korean exportation is “a transitional and voluntary committment between private traders”, i.e., Korean beef importers and U.S. exporters, contrary to the Korean government’s explanation saying that the QSA includes US governmental assurance and compulsory power.

In addition, import ban from the brain, eyes, spinal-cord, the cranial bone of US cows less than 30 months is nothing but a level of the remark that US government “affirms an expectation that commercial practice will be continued.” Like this, the differences regarding discussed contents between  the two governments are also very clear. Much more critical than that,  there is no written agreement at all signed by the authority of the both governments reflecting the outcomes of additional negotiations, and the measures the US side should take is to be determined only after the Korean government would post first and put into effect the announcement on lifting the ban.

In every aspect including characteristics of negotiation, contents of agreement, legal force of implementation, Korean government’s explanation is far different from the position of the US government: therefore we define it a deceptive play the outcome of the so-called additional negotiation  made public by Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon. Otherwise there is no reason not to publicize the original copy of the agreed document, not to accept our proposal to conduct on-air public debate in front of the people, and no need to take unlawful path by breaching regulation of re-announcement procedure according to the alteration of the contents of it. 

Even if we trust fully the result of the additional negotiation, it would be only temporary patch-ups to earn some time to avoid showers of criticism. However, the people was petrified with the fact that the government has fabricated even this stopgap measure falsely. Now everything came to the front. The government itself well recognizes more than any one else. As time goes by, the trifling reality of the additional negotiation will be exposed and the already hostile public opinion would become even more hostile, that’s why the government enforces this announcement which is impractical to everyone’s eyes.

The government’s enforcement of the announcement is just like a way of “let’s spill water first.” However, such an action resulted from misjudgment of the government, given the people’s high level of democratic consciousness, firm attitude to the mad cow disease, and deep-seated fury to the government.   

We know that it is no use crying over spilt milk: so the Korean people will revolt just like volcano in order to force the government to do the right things before the water spills. The government knows very well where the explosive and massive public protest would lead to, should it push the announcement in the end.

Here is our demands in the name of the people:

First, withdraw the governmental announcement;
Second, open to the public the process of the additional negotiation honestly;
Third, engage in national debate sincerely;
Fourth, declare a will to take full-scale renegotiation with the US;

These is only way the government can live with. We advise faithfully that the government should remind the lessons of the history, that is, there was no regime to win  the struggle over the people and the regime must face the grave consequences when it resists against the people.  

2008.6.25

The People’s Conference against Mad Cow Disease