President Lee Myung Bak's removal of restrictions on U.S. beef has plunged his administration into a crisis that could imperil a free-trade pact with the U.S.Rarely has a newly anointed Korean President fallen so far and so fast. Less than four months into a five-year term, Lee Myung Bak's decision to remove restrictions on U.S. beef has sparked widespread protests over food safety and engulfed his administration in a crisis that threatens a free-trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries. Lee's approval ratings have plunged to new lows, and opposition politicians are planning to boycott Parliament.
It wasn't supposed to happen this way. Lee had strong voter backing after winning a landslide victory in December. On Apr. 18, Lee, eager to cement ties with his country's closest ally, lifted the ban on U.S. beef imports for the first time since it was re-imposed last year. Korea had banned all American beef in 2003 following an outbreak of mad cow disease in the U.S. Seoul briefly allowed in boneless beef from cattle younger than 30 months of age before suspending that last year when bone chips turned up in shipments.
Seoul had hoped to coax the U.S. Congress into ratifying a free-trade accord, which the two governments signed last year. The lifting of the ban came on the eve of Lee's first summit with President George W. Bush in the U.S. in April. Korea was once the third-largest U.S. export market for American beef, with an annual turnover of more than $800 million a year. The on-again, off-again beef ban had fueled opposition to the free-trade pact among key members of the U.S. Congress, including Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, from the beef-producing state of Montana. A grand gesture from Seoul might do the trick, was the thinking.
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