PSPD in English Civil-Political 2008-07-02   2078

PSPD Requests the Board of Audit and Inspection for Korea (BAI)

PSPD REQUESTS THE BOARD OF AUDIT AND INSPECTION FOR KOREA (BAI) FOR A CITIZENS’ REQUEST FOR AUIDT, TO DEAL WITH HASTY NEGOTIATIONS ON US. BEEF IMPORTING.

Requesting the thorough audit on the executive branch’s failure to secure national sovereignty for inspection rights, July 2nd, half past one affront the BAI.


July 4th, PSPD center for government administration Watch (headed by prof. Kyung Kun, Seoul City University) submitted the Citizens’ Request for Audit to the BAI, for the audit of the April 18 US. Beef Importation Sanitation Proviso negotiations. Audit is furthermore targeted to the violation of law and dereliction by the Blue House, the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the negotiation party itself during the process preceding and succeeding the actual negotiations. The request enquires full discernment of how the government came to forfeit all its sovereignty on inspection rights.

Last April, our negotiation party allowed for the full importation of US. Beef -products that are scientifically unreliable and unsafe-, thereby threatening citizens’ rights to life, personal freedom, and health. The negotiation results were a total antithesis of the Agricultural Ministry’s standing point back in September 2007. The negotiations were also against our favour in that suspension of imports is now not permissible, even in case of an outbreak of Mad Cow disease, and in that the US has the rule over which cattle ranches are authorised to export meat to Korea. The previous are all items in breach of our Constitution’s mention of citizens’ Sovereignty. Negotiation items violate our Constitution by giving several American statutes the same legitimacy here in Korea, as they have in their home country. Questions of mal-procedure and ill-clarity also exist regarding the results. A special inspection team from Korea was sent to the States’ ranches, post negotiation, only to report down-scaled and covered-up inspection results on some negative findings.

Since the Ministry of Agriculture has no new grounds to overturn their pre-established position on US beef importation, it can only be assumed that the MOFAT and the Blue House exerted pressure during the negotiation talks. This is the rationale for the audit of the Agricultural Ministry and the negotiation party, the actual bodies of the malfeasances, and of the MOFAT and the Blue House, the culprits that led the malfeasances. In addition to malfeasance, the BAI must investigate comprehensively the violations of law, dereliction, and misfeasance, and must issue reprimands to the person/persons held responsible.


[DETAIL] Citizens’ Request for Audit 

A. The South Korean task force (comprised of MIFAFF agents) and United States trade envoy reached agreement at the 2008 April 18 negotiation talks on U.S. beef import sanitation rules.

B. Yet this agreement lifts all ban on U.S. beef imports, meat that is scientifically unproven to be safe. The 2007 September 21st Ministry of Agriculture report by the ‘Expert Evaluation Committee’ states the fundamental rules regarding U.S. beef imports as “age to be limited to under 30 months old, seven SRM(Schoberer Rad Meßtechnik) parts of meat to be removed for all age levels, meat parts that are deemed inedible within the U.S. not to be allowed in”. Another document by the Ministry, same date, similarly states as part of Korea’s negotiation course, that, “beef off cows over the age of 30 months are not fully medically proven to be safe”, and that “…meaning even the OIE cannot confirm the safety of beef derived from cows of over 30 months of age”. It is clear that this April 18 agreement (the legitimate import of beef from cows of over 30 months of age, the import of meat parts with Mad Cow risk) goes directly against what was the standing point of our government a year ago, and therefore threatening the rights of citizens’ on life, personal freedom, health, consumerism, pursuit of happiness and freedom of action.

C. The agreement settled this April has within it that, even in the situation that Mad Cow breaks out in the U.S., lest the OIE alters America’s ‘Mad Cow Risk Country Regulation Grade’, Korea cannot suspend U.S. beef imports. The agreement also states that the U.S. maintains the right to charter its cattle ranches authorization to export their meat to Korea. Such settlement is a forfeiting of our sovereignty to sanitary inspection, an item that infringes our Constitution’s statement of Citizen Sovereignty. Other items of the agreement, such as granting U.S. statutes the same degree of legitimacy in Korea as they would normally have in the States, goes against several domestic laws, our Constitution, and principles of law.

D. Securing the Beef matter, one that is crucial to citizens’ health rights and our nation’s inspection sovereignty, by means of a simplified treaty or a mere memorandum of understanding can be deemed to violate the National Assembly’s authority to legislation.

E. After agreement was made, MIFAFF dispatched to U.S. ranches a special inspection squad – the squad publically announced a down-scaled and covered-up version of its report of the expedition. The proper report, full with the negative findings of the expedition, obtained by one member of the NA and Korean Democratic Labour Party (Mr. kang Ki Gab), had in it that, meat from cows of at least 30 months of age and meat from cows of under 30 months of age could be cross-contaminated, in addition to the fact that the age determining was undertaken by unscientific dental-ID methods (even that of which was a method lacking in some ranches). This report also points out that meat from cows of at least 30 months old may be used for school dinners. These were the risks the inspection squad left out in its public announcement, along with assurance that the American ranches had no flaws.

F. It can also be inferred that the Blue House and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade wielded actual power in the negotiations, by issuing both direct and indirect orders to the negotiation task force. Rationale behind this is that the MIFAFF had no reason to overturn all its pre-established stances on the American Beef Ban, if indeed no pressure was exerted by the Blue House and the MOFAT.

G. Thus we request the BAI to thoroughly audit and if necessary reprimand the MIFAFF, Blue House and the MOFAT for their actual and complicit roles in meeting a hasty trade regulations agreement, who have, by doing so jeopardized its citizens’ fundamental rights and sovereignty.





 

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