Demonstrations hit heart of democracy

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By Andrew Salmon

SEOUL | Demonstrations that have paralyzed the conservative government of President Lee Myung-bak continued Sunday, with some analysts warning of a resurgence of anti-Americanism and others questioning whether Koreans have lost faith in democratic governance.

Mr. Lee won the presidency in December - by the biggest landslide in South Korea's democratic history - on a platform of revitalizing the economy and improving relations with the United States.

With high oil prices and shock waves from the subprime credit crisis roiling the global economy, Mr. Lee has been unable to deliver economically, and his Cabinet appointments have sparked criticism.

But in ultranationalist South Korea, it took a foreign issue, U.S. beef imports, to ignite protests.

"President Bush visits Korea in July," said Hahm Sung-deuk, a politics professor at Korea University. "If this problem is not resolved, it will become anti-Americanism. The Bush administration has to help Lee and allow him to renegotiate the deal."

Mr. Lee sought to limit the fallout from weeks of anti-U.S. beef protests, which swelled to hundreds of thousands last week and continued Sunday with at least 2,000 demonstrators protesting in Seoul, as U.S. and South Korean trade officials sought a face-saving compromise at meetings in Washington.

"The government stance is firm that beef from cattle older than 30 months will not be brought into [South Korea] in any case," Mr. Lee said in a meeting with an opposition leader. Meat from older cattle is thought to be at greater risk of carrying mad cow disease.

Mr. Lee said he received a positive reply from the U.S. on measures under which the American beef industry would voluntarily not ship meat from cattle older than 30 months, the Associated Press reported from Seoul. Mr. Lee called the voluntary restraint the most rational measure to resolve the beef dispute.

At his first U.S. summit, Mr. Lee announced a surprise beef deal with President Bush in April.

The U.S. Congress refuses to ratify a U.S.-Korea free-trade agreement reached last year unless Korea accepts U.S. beef imports.