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South Koreans rally against U.S. beef, government rejects calls to renegotiate dealSEOUL, South Korea (AP)--Nearly 10,000 South Koreans staged candlelight vigils May 6 calling for their government to scrap an agreement to resume U.S. beef imports, but a senior Seoul official rejected any such move. More than 9,000 activists, students and citizens gathered in Seoul near the National Assembly and the City Hall holding candles and chanting anti-government slogans, according to police. The May 6 gatherings were the third major rally since early May, as bovine spongiform encephalopathy fears have spread quickly through the Korean public following a local TV report questioning the safety of American beef. "The government signed the deal without thinking about our safety. They have to re-examine and revoke the accord," Seoul Su-young, 39, said at the vigil near the City Hall. Some protesters shouted "let's send mad cows to Cheong Wa Dae," using the Korean name for the country's presidential office. There were no reports of violence at the rally. Earlier May 6, Min Dong-seok, South Korea's chief trade negotiator on the issue, rejected any possibility of negating the U.S. deal. "The negotiation is over and it's impossible to renegotiate," Min told reporters in a nationally televised press conference. Other senior agriculture officials and medical experts later told the press conference U.S. beef is safe to eat. South Korea agreed last month to reopen its market for U.S. beef, scrapping nearly all quarantine regulations previously instated to guard against BSE. The deal, which came just hours before President Lee Myung-bak held his first summit with U.S. President George W. Bush, was widely seen as a concession aimed at getting the United States to approve a broader trade deal. Lee's popularity has declined amid the latest spat. A telephone survey of 700 adults published by the Seoul-based polling agency Realmeter in early May showed Lee's approval ratings had plunged to 35.1 percent, down 12.1 percent from the previous week. The agency said the survey's margin of error is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points. An Internet-based petition calling for Lee's impeachment had also collected about 1.2 million signatures as of May 6 evening. On May 6, presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan accused some Internet sites of spreading false allegations on the safety of U.S. beef. The main opposition United Democratic Party said it would push for a parliamentary resolution calling for the renegotiation of the deal. A parliamentary committee is to hold a hearing on the issue May 7. Seoul suspended U.S. beef imports in late 2003 after BSE was discovered in Washington state cattle. Scientists believe BSE spreads when farmers feed cattle recycled meat and bones from infected animals. Eating meat from infected animals is also believed to be linked to the rare but fatal brain-wasting human variant, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Restricted imports of U.S. beef resumed in April last year, but were put on hold again in October when a shipment arrived containing banned animal parts. Imports of U.S. beef are expected to resume in mid-May and expand in stages. 5/19/08 Date: 5/15/08 Advertisement
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