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The United Democratic Party has announced it wants to enact a special law that would nullify Korea¡¯s beef accord with the United States if Seoul does not renegotiate with Washington. The UDP says the move is prompted by the threat of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human variant of mad cow disease.
If Korea¡¯s National Assembly ratifies the special law, the UDP must consider what impact the move would have on the country¡¯s image overseas. Right now, 96 countries around the world import and consume American beef without restrictions. Among them are almost all of the countries in the world with far stricter regulations on food safety than Korea. They must be watching with interest the belated mad cow fears being stoked in Korea, but they probably could not imagine that this dispute could lead to the passage of a law by the National Assembly.
The UDP must know that rumors that consuming American beef causes Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease or that Americans do not consume U.S. beef have either been fabricated or exaggerated beyond belief. We still see false information floating around on the Internet, such as the incorrect notion that Americans consume beef only from cattle less than 20 months old, while meat from cattle older than 30 months is exported to Korea. It is all false. There has not been a single case of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in 300 million Americans who have been consuming the same beef that is being exported to Korea. And not a single Korean-American who has been consuming food made from bones and intestines from American cattle has contracted Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Until 1997, people in this country consumed U.S. beef raised on cattle feed containing animal parts, but not a single one of Korea¡¯s 50 million population has contracted the disease.
Television, which played a huge role in spreading mad cow fears, rarely comes out with such clear and fundamental facts. In the midst of all of this, celebrities who command a tremendous following among teenagers have come out seeking to act as the heroes, while dangerous rumors, including one that a person in Ulsan died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, have begun to spread. The UDP must know that the actions it is about to take is not only irresponsible but aims to take advantage of this unfounded panic. It must stop stoking this irrational scare and focus on coming up with ways to help Korean cattle farmers.
The Grand National Party has done nothing while these absurd lies gripped the entire country. It appears as if it has ceased to function; the only comments we hear are simple-minded ones from the mouths of disgruntled supporters of the former party leader Park Geun-hye, who demand to be allowed to rejoin the party, plus the party¡¯s negative response. This is a party seriously lacking in principle or policy.
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