Cheong Wa Dae Press Release

June 26, 2008

President asks for public understanding and cooperation on U.S. beef import issue

Presidential Spokesperson Lee Dong-kwan made the following remarks in a briefing this afternoon.

I will brief you on a meeting of relevant ministers on the posting of U.S. beef import rules in the Government Gazette.

President Lee Myung-bak presided over a meeting of relevant ministers concerning the posting of import guidelines for U.S. beef in the Government Gazette. The meeting lasted for about an hour from 9:00 this morning.

At the meeting, President Lee said, “The Administration has exerted all-out efforts to conduct additional negotiations with the United States and came up with multi-layered airtight safety measures to safeguard the public health.” He urged the people to understand and cooperate saying, “If the posting of the rules in the Government Gazetteis further delayed, the country will lose international confidence and the result of the additional negotiations will go down the drain.”

He also commented, “Now is the time for the whole nation to wrap up the beef issue and pool its efforts to revive the troubled economy.” He went on to say, “Ordinary citizens will bear the brunt of the resultant damage if the current situation is left unchecked. The Government is firmly resolute to safeguard food safety. So the relevant ministers should make utmost efforts to convince the people that the Government is trustworthy and seek their cooperation and understanding.

At today’s meeting, the Minister of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries briefed the participants on four policy measures aimed at improving the effectiveness of the enforcement of the country-of-origin labeling system as follows:

First, the National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service, the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, the Korean National Police Agency, the Korea Food & Drug Administration and local governments will carry out exhaustive administrative guidance and bolster joint crackdowns on violators.

As for small restaurants with a floor space of less than 100 square meters or 30 pyeong, the focus of the administrative guidance for the first three months will be explanations of the country-of-origin labeling system.

Restaurants with a floor space of over 100 square meters are already required to follow the country-of-origin labeling system. For those restaurants which violate the law, strong administrative sanctions will be meted out.

In addition, the number of Special Judicial Police Officials under the National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service will be increased to 1,000 by the end of June from the current 600.

Second, a new system will be set up in a bid to share beef quarantine and imports information. Quarantine related information from the National Veterinary and Quarantine Service and customs clearance information from the Korea Customs Service will be made available to the relevant authorities on a real-time basis, thus improving the efficiency of crackdowns.

Third, a civilian group for monitoring the country-of-origin labeling will be established. The group will be made up of people who are knowledgeable about how to discern the country of origin of beef.

Fourth, the Government will do all it can do to effectively enforce the regulation concerning punishment of those who falsify the country-of-origin label with a reward of up to 2 million won for anyone who reports violations.

The participants took issue with the MBC TV’s recent report on mad cow disease that they termed as biased and distorted. They all agreed, “It is a serious matter for a publicly funded broadcaster to confuse the audience with a biased and distorted report.” Minister of Agriculture Chung Woon-chun said that he would fulfill his responsibility of persuading the general public in the right direction as long as he remains in his office.

On hand at the meeting were the Minister of Public Administration and Security, the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Minister of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Minister for Trade as well as the Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister. Representing Cheong Wa Dae were the presidential Chief of Staff, Senior Secretary for Political Affairs, Senior Secretary for Economic Policy, Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs, Senior Secretary for Foreign Affairs and National Security and the Spokesperson in addition to the Senior Secretary for Public Affairs Strategy.

Meanwhile, some participants in a senior secretaries meeting suggested that the Government take active measures to deal with illegal and violent street demonstrations as they hamper the livelihood of ordinary citizens,not to mention causing extreme traffic congestion.