South Korean president apologises to the public

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak apologised to the public on Thursday for ignoring their concerns in seeking to restore US beef imports, a move that sparked weeks of anti-government protests and has paralysed his government.

In a nationally televised address, Lee said he sought to restore beef imports to help passage of a broader free-trade deal with the United States, which has been approved by both governments but still awaits legislative approval in Seoul and Washington.

With the global economy slowing, Lee said he saw the US-South Korea free-trade agreement as a “shortcut” to fulfill his campaign promise to boost the South’s economy.

“I and the government are deeply sorry” for not caring about what the people wanted, he said.

It was Lee’s second apology in less than a month over the beef debacle, which has forced all of his top aides and the entire Cabinet to offer to resign. Lee, a former Hyundai CEO and Seoul mayor, took office in February after a landslide election win last year but has seen his popularity plummet over the beef issue.

Lee said on Thursday that he “was in a hurry after being elected president as I thought I could not succeed unless I achieve changes and reform within one year after inauguration.”

“As a president, I did not want to miss this golden opportunity,” he said of the trade agreement with Washington. “I could not sit idly by seeing this window of opportunity being closed without making any efforts.”

But “there was no possibility of ratification” this year of the free-trade deal if South Korea continued to reject American beef, he said.

Lee also said he wanted to improve Seoul’s relations with the US to help the country’s security, citing the nuclear threat from North Korea. Ties between the longtime allies had grown strained over a decade of liberal governments in Seoul.

Lee’s administration agreed to the beef deal in April just hours before he met US President George W Bush for a summit.

Top trade officials of the two sides held their latest talks on Wednesday in Washington where Seoul was seeking to restrict beef shipments to cattle younger than 30 months. The meeting ended inconclusively and the sides agreed to meet again on Thursday, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said.

“There has been progress in technical consultations, but there still remain issues to discuss,” a South Korean Foreign Ministry official said on condition of anonymity, citing office protocol. The official did not elaborate.

In Washington, Gretchen Hamel, spokeswoman for US Trade Representative Susan Schwab, described the negotiations as “complex and sensitive,” but added that “both countries remain committed to finding a mutually agreeable path forward.”

Lee said he will “ensure that the US beef older than 30 months will not be put on our dinner tables as long as the people do not want it.”

The South Korean leader said he had told Bush during a phone call earlier this month that South Korea “would not be able to import US beef” if Seoul’s demands were not accepted.

Lee said on Thursday he would replace his chief of staff and seven secretaries. But he gave no immediate indication of what action he would take regarding the Cabinet’s offer to resign.

Anti-government protests climaxed last week with a candlelight rally that drew some 80,000 people. But the scale of rallies has since markedly dropped as the government began seeking to limit the import deal and violence at the demonstrations drew criticism.

On Wednesday evening, police said only 800 people turned out for the daily candlelight vigil.

South Korea suspended imports of US beef after the first American case of mad cow disease appeared in December 2003, closing what had been the third-largest foreign market.

Restricted imports of US beef reached South Korean supermarkets last year, but further shipments were put on hold in October after banned parts, such as bones, were found in a shipment.

Scientists believe mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, spreads when farmers feed cattle recycled meat and bones from infected animals. In humans, eating meat products contaminated with the illness is linked to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare and fatal malady.

 

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.