[KS] candlelight demonstrations in Korea and the beef deal issue

[J.Scott Burgeson]

1. `While cows 30 months of age and older at the time of slaughter are in general not allowed to be sold for food consumption in the US and elsewhere, the agreement between the US and South Korean government included the import of beef from cattle over 30 months old.`

Q:　Can you provide a reliable and up-to-date source for the first part of this statement? I have read elsewhere that beef over 30 months old is widely used esp. for hamburger meat in the US. 

2. `A video of a cow in the US that was unable to walk but was passed as acceptable to be slaughtered and its beef included in the human food supply was distributed on the Internet by netizens.`

Vague attribution. What was the source of this video? MBC`s PD Such`op? And did that cow actually have BSE (I have heard otherwise)? Please provide a clear reference if possible.

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Your article implies that there is insufficient democracy in South Korea but does not really explain why so few people chose to participate in the Presidential election of Dec. 2007 and thereby register their democratic will at the institutional level. Political apathy is distinct from lack of democracy. One might also note that the GNP won a majority of seats in Parliament in April, yet your article does not account for this phenomenon either (beyond perhaps objecting to it on ideological grounds). Up until recently the Korean electorate was seemingly conservative, which again is distinct from lack of democracy.

ChoJoongDong have their biases but many of the left-leaning sources you site approvingly in your article have their biases as well, which renders the persuasiveness of your analysis somewhat less than it might otherwise be.
  
--Scott Bug