Stop supplying dodgy beef to N. Korea

SEOUL: A wire dispatch from Geneva last week said the Swiss government has decided to send over US$4 million worth of beef to North Korea, responding to a request from the communist government for food aid.

Germany is also considering exporting to the North the meat from the 200,000 older cattle that are to be destroyed under a EU market support operation, another report said.

An earlier report in Seoul said Taiwan is pursuing a plan to ship 60,000 barrels of nuclear waste to North Korea as soon as the North solves technical problems concerning its storage.

These stories about North Korea not only remind us of the sad realities facing its population, but also alert us to our vulnerability to the hazard of its regime, deriving from its economic difficulties.

Our position on the problem of the planned shipment of nuclear waste to North Korea is clear. Taiwan and North Korea should halt the project right now. We have strongly opposed the plan because of the possible environmental contamination.

Further, many experts believe that North Korean facilities for storing radioactive materials are far from safe. But the Taiwan Power Corp., which maintains a contract with North Korea on the shipment of the nuclear waste, renewed the contract last year.

Under the contract, Taiwan is to pay $220 million to North Korea for its acceptance of the shipment of 200,000 barrels of nuclear waste.

The financial compensation cannot justify the contamination of the land. Taiwan was also a target of severe criticism in Cambodia for exporting dangerous industrial waste to that country.

The moves in Germany and Switzerland to send beef to North Korea seem to be a little more complicated than the case of Taiwan. The plan of these European countries seems to be aimed at serving the dual purpose of providing food to hungry North Koreans and improving perceptions of their own people on the beef -- thus saving their own livestock industry that is hard hit by the mad cow crisis.

Reports say a civic organization in Germany that has been active in the relief of North Koreans for the past several years had floated the idea of sending German beef to North Korea.

This suggestion from the Cap Anamur is in part understandable in view of the extreme food shortage in the North. The North Korean government reportedly responded favorably to the idea.

The export of European beef, however, involves an important ethical problem. Switzerland has removed beef from school meals since the latest cases of infection were detected among its cattle. To export the meat that is deemed unsuitable for local consumption is hard to justify -- even for the humanitarian purpose of the relief of starving people.

Another problem concerns safety. European countries plan mass destruction of cattle, regardless of their status of infection, for the stability of their livestock industry. Nature lovers and animal rights activists in these countries are opposing this plan because of the ethical problem in killing healthy cattle. The meat to be shipped to North Korea is supposed to be uncontaminated.

The import of beef from EU countries has been banned in many countries, including South Korea, because of the threat of possible infection. The two particular countries that are mentioned -- Switzerland and Germany -- have recorded cases of mad cow disease among their cattle. In Germany, infection was discovered among domestic cattle for the first time last November, while earlier discoveries had concerned only the cattle imported from Britain.

The tests that have been made for cattle against bovine spongiform encepalopathy (BSE) are far from being perfect at the moment. There is no way for us to guarantee the perfect safety of the meat to be shipped to North Korea. The plan to ship beef to North Korea needs a review because of this fact alone.

-- The Korea Herald/Asia News Network