Asia Times: 'Mutant' beans on the menu of Korean WTO critics



	November 13, 1999	atimes.com

The Koreas

'Mutant' beans on the menu of Korean WTO critics
By Ahn Mi-Young

SEOUL - Son Yoon-Hee no longer reaches out for the bean paste cakes she usually gets at the supermarket, though they are cheap and make a delicious big bowl of bean soup to share with her husband and seven-year-old son.

That's because consumers like Son learned that the soybeans used in the bean paste or ''tubu'' are likely to have been made from genetically modified seeds.

On November 9, the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement (KFEM), the nation's major state-funded consumer group with 60,000 members, collected dozens of the ''tubu'' brands, tested them and found that 82 percent were made from genetically-modified beans.

The next day, ''tubu'' sales plummeted by 40 to 80 percent at some 630 tubu makers nationwide.

''I do not think that I will buy it again, unless I'm sure that it is made of domestic bean,'' says Son. ''Even the thought of having fed my boy and my husband with beans that may cause cancer and weaken resistance makes me shiver.''

Like consumers in Europe and Japan, South Koreans are waking up to the realization that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are much more commonly used in their daily food than they thought. The knowledge has come as a shock, and consumer groups are demanding that the government require labeling of products that use genetically altered material.

Critics also say that the issue of GMOs and labeling is not just about health, but about trade as well. Thus, Korean campaigners against further opening up the food market by the World Trade Organization have taken up the GMO issue too.

''GMO labeling is a tough ride ahead,'' Lee says, ''as they [the government] are afraid of strong pressure from the US, the major exporter of the GMO farm products.'' Japan and Australia, among others, have labeling requirements but supporters of labeling worry that their efforts may be portrayed as putting up barriers to free trade by key exporters of affected products.

More than 50 percent of US-produced soybeans and about 30 percent of corn are now genetically engineered. Korean consumer groups say that some 90 percent of the soybeans and corn used for making their favorite dishes such as ''ramyon'' and instant noodles are imported from the US.

Meanwhile, the public outcry over genetically modified food is causing concern among makers of products suspected to contain GMOs, such as corn snacks, corn oil, popcorn and bread. Indeed, ''tubu'' makers are crying foul in the wake of plunging sales of what used to be a popular food. They say they are victims too, as they have no other choice but to use imported soybeans, which are cheaper and more widely available than domestic ones.

In 1998 alone, 1.04 million tonnes of genetically modified corn and 390,000 tonnes of soybeans from the US entered South Korea. Most was used in food products such as spicy soups, potato snacks and beer, according to a government report to lawmakers in July.

Amid public opposition, however, the government food agency shrugs off the risks activists say come with GMOs, including increased toxicity, increased exposure to allergens and antibiotic resistance. The Korea Food and Drug Administration says: ''GMO is scientifically proven as safe to eat. In the absence of a scientific testing method to verify whether a processed food like bean paste cake is made of GMO or not, the consumers' hasty conclusion may only backfire by confusing consumers.''

But public anger has been all too real. In October, hundreds of demonstrators stormed the headquarters of a major ''tubu'' maker, Pulmoowon, in southern Seoul. ''Call back and destroy every GMO-made bean paste cake that is threatening the health of our families,'' they demanded. The KFEM, which led the demonstration, also urged the government to mandate the GMO-labeling of products. It says it will sue Pulmoowon for neglecting to let consumers know that they are eating GMOs.

Lately, Korean resistance to GMOs has also been riding on an activists' campaign against what they see as Western pressure to open the country's rice market, long a bone of contention between East Asian countries like Japan and Korea and Western governments. Last month, some 400 representatives from 331 civic groups gathered in downtown Seoul to protest further pressure to liberalize South Korea's food market, which traditionally has been closed to outsiders.

''The mounting Western pressure to further open our rice and farm market is threatening to uproot domestic farm infrastructure, to hurt the food security, as well as to undermine our farmers' sovereignty,'' says Kang Tae-wook, an activist who helped launch a ''grassroots federation'' against WTO negotiations on farm market opening.

At the WTO's Uruguay Round meeting in 1993, the full opening of the Korean rice market was given a moratorium until 2004 under the minimum market access (MMA) rule. That meant Korean had to start importing rice from overseas. This year, some 100,000 tonnes of rice, or two percent of market share, has been imported, mostly from Southeast Asia.

Whether South Korea is given more time to adjust to opening up after 2004 is up for discussion at the ministerial meeting of the WTO at the end of this month.

(Inter Press Service)

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