Hyundai Motor workers strike over U.S. beef imports

Wednesday 02nd July, 01:50 PM JST

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westurn at 12:52 AM JST - 4th July

kwaabish:

"So you're suggesting a Korean government conspiracy whereby the Korean government actually does NOT agree to the import of US beef?"

I suggest nothing ! I speak pretty damn straight, and the poop is, nationalist fervor and market protectors are raising havoc on one of the worlds most popular and statistically safe products... US Beef ! Now make no mistakes, I have no problem with this... but the Koreans need to be held accountable for their actions. Like with Japan I suggest "managed" trade with the Asians and not free trade. America has tolerated million dollar trade imbalances with these nations long enough. Time to square the till ! I say ban Korean products ! They don't produce anything Americans can't anyway. let em starve ! Better yet, let em keep believing there is no bse in Australia ! Now there's a joke for you !
Kwaabish at 09:16 AM JST - 4th July

Westurn:

OK, so you spoke pretty darn straight, "the (Korean) government is interfering in, what should be an open market"

Your words.
westurn at 09:35 AM JST - 4th July

Pretty damn straight indeed...

"the (Korean) government is interfering in, what should be an open market"

No need for the Korean government to have been involved in the frst place ! And then to go back to the US agriculture reps to "re-work" a deal ??? Whatta buncha nonsense ! I don't see Bush giving the "yay or nay" on Korean cars as they pull up to American sea ports... do you ???
Kwaabish at 09:40 AM JST - 4th July

Westurn,

While Bush may not give a "yay or nay" on importing of Kias and Hyundai's, there are certain safety guidelines and standards, exhaust limits and fixtures that said Kias and Hyundai must have to be able to be sold in the US.
westurn at 04:59 PM JST - 4th July

Kwaabish ??? I'm confused, didn't the Koreans already agree to import American beef ? Weren't the "standards, guidelines, and limits" decided at that time ??? Sure were bucko ! So why all the backsteppin' by the K gov ? Again... time to take a hammer to the daewoo !
Good_Jorb at 11:29 PM JST - 4th July

Last time a checked Korea was a democracy and their government elected to represent the will of the people. If the government doesn't act in accordance to majority of people's will, then the have every right to protest(A fundamental freedom and part of democracy).

If it interferes with market forces or capitalism than so be it becuase there is no country in this world that operates in a purely capitalist state. Even the US engages in protectism, subsidising, corporate welfare and long list of other things that interfere with a free market.

The governments of both Korea and Japan look to con the public into paying higher consumer prices by these ridiculous scare tactics.

Just following the lead of the USA (I.E. Canadian Beef)
Kwaabish at 12:18 AM JST - 5th July

Westurn,

"Weren't the "standards, guidelines, and limits" decided at that time ???"

If standards never changed, Hyundais could be importing cars that still take leaded gas and would have no rear seat seat belts for child seats. Governments or regulatory bodies constantly change "standards" all the time.
hellyhansen at 06:17 AM JST - 5th July

Eat your own beef then. Who cares?
SezWho2 at 06:28 AM JST - 5th July

SuperLib,

You were having a little fun alright, but it was mostly at your own expense. I've repeatedly asked you to be specific about your claims but you cannot or will not.

What is embarrassing is that US beef producers will not perform a cheap and inexpensive safety check and then want to blame the consumers. What is embarrassing is that the US State Department prohibits US companies from performing these safety checks on a voluntary basis. And what is embarrassing is that so you and others are so reactivated by the issue that you substitute sarcasm for argument.
SuperLib at 06:32 PM JST - 5th July

Your arguments are more suited for a cheap salesman. "Do you want to protect your family? Well then let's discuss this personal lightening strike policy. It's only $25. Surely you want to protect your family. Who wouldn't want to protect their family? It's a family protection issue."

(That was a joke, Sez, there really is no such insurance. Put your checkbook away.)
dano2002 at 05:30 PM JST - 7th July

hopefully, this will cause the US to stop buying Korean cars. honestly, my dad bought one and it broke down just as bad as a Chevy. the only redeeming quality is the 100,000 mile warranty attached.
SezWho2 at 10:13 PM JST - 7th July

SuperLib,

If that is the case, you must have a good counterargument. But you choose to let characterizations stand in the stead of civil discourse. I don't know what benefit you derive from that, but if I can give you satisfaction at no harm to myself, I'm happy to do so.

That's kind of like the beef issue. Whether the extra $25--(per head, about 3.3 cents per pound dressed assuming only a 750 pound dressed carcass, not all of it being meat of course)--actually increases health safety is a little bit beside the point. If it increases consumer willingness to buy at the higher price, there is no business reason not to do the test.

Additionally, the more cattle you test, the more diseased animals you will be willing to eliminate. That should be a good thing, not a bad thing, if the consumer is willing to pay. That is, it should be a good thing unless there's a problem.

Unlike the personal lightening strike policy which does not exist, the test for BSE does. And if it brings peace of mind to the consumer, just as your posting of two-dimensional characterizations must be assumed to bring satisfaction to yours, then it is a good business decision.

The only better business decision would be to take a temporary loss because you feel you might take a bigger permanent one. And you might do this if you thought you could count on your eventual ability to prise open doors which had been shut. To take a temporary loss because the consumer was stupid would be, well, un-American.
KMGuru at 12:43 PM JST - 8th July

It is too much. Perhaps it is time for Americans to stop buying Hyundai cars.
Betzee at 08:15 AM JST - 9th July

The Koreans have resorted to what are extreme measures when the government has agreed to open the markets in the past. For example, poisonous snakes were released in theatres which screened Hollywood movies.

Don't take the beef brouhaha at face value; it has simply proved to be a lightening rod to mobilize people dissatisfied with their own government. After all, it's relatively easy to misrepresent issues requiring some scientific knowledge, be it the threat posed by WMD or imported beef, and whip up public hysteria.

There's a bunch of other issues which are more difficult to mobilize around. Corruption, particularly in construction, has proved difficult to eradicate in Korea. The president himself, who is seen as pro-American by his citizens, has benefited personally from a publicly-funded construction project of large proportion. So his adversaries are using beef to try and get him to resign.
Betzee at 08:39 AM JST - 9th July

"the (Korean) government is interfering in, what should be an open market"

In fact foodstuffs are a national security issue and therefore always subject to government regulation. Back in the 1980s, in what looked like a way to redress the U.S.-Japanese trade imbalance, Japanese corporations proposed buying American cattle ranches to supply Japanese consumers with American beef. Guess what? The deal never went through. If a government allowed foreign concerns to buy up its farmland what would happen in the event of war? The enemy could starve you in this way.