South Koreans bash president over US beef deal

SEOUL (AFP) - Tens of thousands of flag-waving South Koreans packed central Seoul Tuesday, demanding the scrapping of an agreement to resume US beef imports and the resignation of new President Lee Myung-Bak.

The entire cabinet earlier offered to quit to take responsibility for weeks of turmoil over the deal, which opponents say exposes South Koreans to the risk of mad cow disease.

But demonstrators pressed on regardless with their largest protest to date.

Police said an estimated 100,000 protesters were on the streets of Seoul alone by mid-evening, while 62,000 were demonstrating in provincial cities. Yonhap news agency said tens of thousands also joined rallies in Gwangju and many other cities but gave no exact figure.

Police erected greased barricades of shipping containers in the heart of the capital to block access to government buildings and the presidential palace.

Among those in Seoul were about 50 mothers, some pushing baby strollers and chanting "Down with Lee Myung-Bak."

"I am not interested in politics but in the health of our family," said Lee Sun-Hee, a 32 year-old housewife.

Police said some 37,000 riot police were mobilised, 20,000 of them in the capital.

"Judgement Day for Lee Myung-Bak" read a huge banner floating on a balloon.

"Today's protests are to pass judgement on the Lee Myung-Bak government which keeps ignoring people's demands despite a month of candlelit protests," said activist spokesman Park Won-Suk.

The US and South Korean governments say the risk of the human form of mad cow disease is virtually non-existent but they have failed to persuade thousands of Korean consumers.

Lee, a conservative former business executive elected last December by a record margin, admitted as such.

"We will be more humble in listening to the people and serve them with all our might," the president, whose approval ratings have tumbled below 20 percent, promised Tuesday.

Prime Minister Han Seung-Soo and the cabinet offered their resignations to Lee ahead of the mass protest.

A presidential spokesman said no decision had been made yet about ministerial changes and the current cabinet would stay in office for the time being.

Yonhap said Lee is expected to replace four or five ministers as he grapples with the backlash over his April agreement to resume US beef imports, which were halted in 2003 over mad cow fears.

Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-Chun, whose job is said by local media to be on the line, pushed through the crowds to reach the speakers' podium in Seoul.

He said he wanted to apologise to people and explain the government's position. But protest organisers pushed him away and crowds called him a "traitor." Lee is seeking to modify the beef deal but says he cannot renegotiate it, as protesters demand, since this would jeopardise US approval of a separate free trade pact.

US legislators have warned they will not ratify the free trade agreement (FTA) unless Seoul first opens its beef market. Beef protesters have been joined by left-leaning opponents of the broader trade deal and by critics of Lee's market-friendly economic reform agenda.

"Let's march together until the Lee Myung-Bak government accepts our demands," said movie actress Moon So-Ri. "By pushing for the beef deal, he shows us that the FTA is an unfair agreement."