YONHAP NEWS

(LEAD) Police chief warns of punishment over candlelight vigils

   By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, May 13 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's national police chief said Tuesday that those who organize candlelight vigils against U.S. beef imports will face criminal punishment, while public anger grew against the government ahead of the resumption of the imports this week.

   Under the accord signed in mid-April, Korea will fully open its beef market on Thursday, lifting almost all restrictions on U.S. beef cuts from cattle under 30 months old.

   Doubts on the U.S. quarantine system and fears of mad cow disease have drawn tens of thousands of people candlelight vigils across the country over the past two weeks. The peaceful rallies were to resume Tuesday night, despite a police warning that political rallies after sunset are illegal.

   "Considering the situation so far, we've concluded that the recent candlelight vigils were illegal rallies that did not give prior notice to police and they were not cultural assemblies that do not need to provide such notice," Eo Cheong-soo, chief of the Korea National Police Agency, told reporters.

   Eo's warning signaled a tougher stance by police towards the protestors, although candlelight vigils have been so far reluctantly allowed amid the widespread public anger.

   He referred to the laws on assembly, which require demonstration organizers to report to the police about the time and venue of their rallies if they involve political slogans. Police can ban the rallies if they are deemed illegal. Non-political rallies do not need prior notice.

   In the latest candlelight vigils on Friday, about 10,000 people gathered at the Cheonggye stream in downtown Seoul, chanting, "Mad cow, you eat it" and "Send mad cows to the presidential office." Protesters were to gather again in downtown Seoul and other metropolitan cities Tuesday night, after a revelation that the government gave wrong information about U.S. sanitation rules to the public.

   Government officials had said they agreed to import most U.S. beef cuts, based on a new U.S. Food Drug Administration regulation that they translated as banning the use of the entire carcass of any cattle, regardless of age, for animal feed if they are not inspected. But the translation was found to be wrong. The U.S. rule has actually been eased to allow the use of cattle for animal feed if they are less than 30 months old, although they were not inspected.

   "Turning a deaf ear to the voice of the people held in the candles, they did not 'negotiate' with the United States nor did they even properly translate the U.S. rules. The government should stop making excuses and come forward to renegotiate with the United States," the People's Solidarity for Participatory Government, a leading civic group organizing candlelight vigils, said in a statement.

   Presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan expressed regret over the mistranslation.

   Critics say Korea's agreement to import almost all beef cuts from cattle younger than 30 months old from the U.S. is far looser than those of other importing countries, which usually set the age limit at 20 months and ban parts like bone-in beef and intestines.

   As the the accord was unveiled on the eve of Lee's first summit with U.S. President George W. Bush, opposition parties claim that Lee's conservative administration endangered public health for the sake of trade benefits.
Doubts of the U.S. quarantine system have grown, following a massive domestic recall of U.S. beef in February due to dubious safety conditions and online circulation of video footage of sick cows in U.S. cattle farms.

   Korea opened its beef market to U.S. beef in 2001 as a result of the Uruguay Round agricultural agreement, but the doors were shut in late 2003 after the U.S. confirmed the first of its three mad cow cases in the state of Washington. Before the ban, Korea was among the top three importers of U.S. beef, along with Japan and Mexico.

   hkim@yna.co.kr
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