S. Korea’s beef with US meat
Jun 9, 2008 04:00PM | by armybratkat in 
Politics
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=55389
U.S. military community members are being warned to avoid civil gatherings at Seoul City Hall plaza over the weekend, according to U.S. Forces Korea.The National Conference for Opposition to Importing U.S. Mad Cow Diseased Beef planned to conduct candlelight vigils in the plaza Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
It was a bad day to be a Department of Defense Dependant School (DoDDs) graduate in South Korea… at least for those who had plans to go off base downtown and party the night away after the ceremony. My group didn’t even have any intention of going out to the clubs and hofs or bars after graduation--- you know, some good ol’ sam gyub sal [Korean BBQ pork] and noraebang [singing room] were on our agenda. Unfortunately for the class of oh-eight, political discourse surrounding the condition of imported US beef has escalated to public protest and “illegal demonstrations” that led to the timely ban on downtown access for the entire weekend.
Sucks to be them.
Apparently most of the heavy protesting occurred this weekend up in Seoul, but further south in Daegu (the 3rd largest city I think in Korea, with one of the smallest military bases on the peninsula) military personnel decided not to take a chance this weekend and sent notifications to all soldiers, spouses, and dependent students. Military police (MPs) were posted at the gates handing out maps of Daegu with a side list of banned areas. ----Basically, they just Sharpie-d a big circle around all of downtown. Very specific.
In case anyone isn’t following, S. Koreans are far from pleased from President Lee Myung-bak’s decision to resume beef trade with Washington back in April. The public fear of Mad Cow disease highlights the face that imported American beef is often from older cattle, which possess a higher risk of contracting the disease. Since then, public opposition has arose in the form of candle vigils, which sometimes evolved into marches and riots. This week officials were planning to allow more imports but backed out in apprehension of adding more fuel to the fire.
I still had my sam gyub sal and beef galbi after graduation with the older alumni. Hopefully I’m not infected now :3
Of course, all this didn’t stop people from ninja-ing past Korean police and MPs on patrol into club Bubble or Bon; you can’t get in the way of a senior, I mean graduate… from their party. 
