I chanced upon this quote from an article in the Chosun Ilbo online newspaper.

I asked a broadcasting official why the TV channels have exaggerated the issue so much. “It would be appropriate to regard it as a skirmish,” replied the official. Asked what the main battles are, he cited “KBS restructuring, MBC privatization and broadcasting market opening.” The broadcasters are primarily interested in preventing these efforts, and are in effect confronting the Lee Myung-bak administration over them. “The television channels are flexing their muscles in front of the government,” he added. If these remarks are true, we’ll be seeing more uproars like the mad cow disease one.

So, it turns out, the broadcasters are using this issue to pommel the president, Lee Myung-bak, by trying to 86 his efforts in the free-trade agreements he and Bush discussed.

Another Choson Ilbo article asks questions as to where the rumors of beef perils spring from, and it appears it’s a much more highly organized thing than just ordinary people. The above quote seems to support the theory.

So, Lee Myung-Bak pissed off some broadcasters and because of that, I don’t get a freaking hamburger. The real news, however, is that South Korea has reported instances of Bird Flu in the past few weeks, so even chicken may be getting harder to find.

The Koreans are going completely ludicrous with regard to ongoing negotiations to being American beef into the country.

Rumors run rampant about the quality of American beef, ranging anywhere from notions of all imported beef contains Mad Cow disease to utter lies of people already having died from contracting human forms of the same disease after eating the beef. Last night the TV was reporting completely crazy things about how American cattle herds care contaminating beef stocks worldwide. I thought only Fox News was capable of reporting BS in order to please political parties, but apparently here in Korea that happens to. I listened to some of the “news” reports incredulously and wonder where in the hell they get their “facts.” They’re saying the Americans don’t eat old cows (the ones susceptable to Mad Cow) but export it when in fact nearly all cows slaughtered in the US are less than 24 months. They also have been saying that Koreans are genetically more susceptible to MCD. Complete bullshit.

Some idiot-ass Korean, somewhere, has even popularized the slogan:

“I’d rather swallow potassium cyanide than eat American beef”

They’re even holding candlelight vigils in the capital to reverse the agreements the president sought when he visited GW Bush last month.

Somebody, somewhere is profiting wildly from selling only Korean beef and is doing a damn good job of feeding BS to the Korean public. Korean beef is some of the most expensive beef on the planet. No small wonder they want to keep it that way.