Seoul (AsiaNews) – South Korea’s Agriculture Ministry has decided to postpone the resumption of beef imports from the United States after demonstrations over the week-end drew more than 100,000 people.
US beef has been banned from South Korea for about five years over fears of mad cow disease, but on 18 April the South Korean government had agreed to allow imports without setting precise food safety regulations.
Demonstrations in at least 100 South Korean cities have taken place since then, the largest in Seoul where at least 100,000 people took part in a candlelight vigil last Saturday.
At a press conference in Gwanghwamun, in downtown Seoul, about 20 Protestant clergymen have decided to on a hunger strike.
A few demonstrators even tried to break into the Presidential Palace but were stopped.
Some 300 people were arrested over the week-end.
Military and civilian organisations are preparing a demonstration for 10 June, expecting at least a million people.
For some analysts these demonstrations are the biggest since 1987 and the Great Struggle which toppled South Korea’s military dictatorship.
Rally organisers accuse the government of kowtowing to Washington and putting public health and the local economy at risk.