SKorean clashes despite new deal on US beef
SEOUL (AFP) — Police and protesters clashed at an anti-US beef rally here Sunday as Seoul's announcement on extra health safeguards failed to immediately calm South Koreans' fears over mad cow disease.
The violence erupted as thousands of people who had held a candle-lit vigil overnight tried to break through lines of police buses which prevented them from marching on downtown Seoul.
Hundreds of angry demonstrators pulled one police bus away from the barricade, smashed its windows and let down tyres on other security vehicles.
Riot police on the bus were briefly detained by rioters as fights broke out and police discharged hand-held fire extinguishers at violent protesters wielding flag poles.
Dozens of people were injured, according to police and witnesses. A Seoul police spokesman told AFP that 12 protesters were arrested, including a 31-year-old man for attempted arson.
Police said 10,000 people took part in the vigil, though protest organisers put the estimate at 60,000.
The clashes followed South Korea's announcement on Saturday that it had secured extra health safeguards from the United States on beef imports, a move aimed at ending weeks of mass protests that have rocked the government.
Seoul says Washington has agreed not to export beef to South Korea from cattle older than 30 months, in an attempt to alleviate Koreans' fears of mad cow disease. Older cattle are seen as posing a greater potential risk.
The US government has agreed to run an age verification system for the exports, and US beef processing plants would be banned from exporting products following two violations of the new rules.
"It is only a deception," a coalition of South Korean civic groups organising the vigil said in a statement, dismissing the outcome of the latest talks as insufficient.
The coalition demanded full renegotiation of the trade deal, saying thousands of protesters would continue their vigils until their demands were met.
Presidential spokesman Lee Dong-Kwan on Sunday defended the "better-than-expected" outcome of the latest talks, which he said resulted from US concessions for the sake of its alliance with South Korea.
The Seoul government is expected to take administrative measures to resume US beef imports in the coming week, local media reports said.
Yonhap news agency, quoting an unnamed government source, said that the cabinet would discuss the new health guidelines for the beef imports Monday and they would likely take effect from Wednesday or Thursday.
But the ruling Grand National Party said after a meeting with government officials Sunday that there would be no rush to take the administrative measures.
"It has been agreed that the details of additional talks and quarantine guidelines should be fully explained to the public," said party spokeswoman Cho Yoon-Sun. "We will not make a rush."
President Lee Myung-Bak, who took office in February, has faced growing protests over his government's agreement in April to resume the beef imports to clear the way for approval of a wider free trade deal.
He replaced almost all his top aides on Friday to give his government a fresh start and is expected to announce a partial cabinet reshuffle soon.
South Korea was once the third largest market for US beef, with imports worth 850 million dollars a year until they were suspended in 2003 after a US case of mad cow disease
