Over a million South Koreans poured into the streets in recent weeks to protest the return of American beef to the Korean dinner table. Fears of Mad-Cow Disease have sparked the largest demonstrations since Korea democratized two decades ago. Given that not a single American has contracted the disease since a handful of cases were discovered in cows in 2003, the protests appear to be a massive overreaction. But then the causes of the demonstrations run much deeper than just food safety concerns.

The protests began soon after Seoul’s pro-American new president, Lee Myung-bak, pledged to fully open the Korean beef market on the eve of his first meeting with President Bush in April. Lee was trying to rejuvenate an alliance that had faltered in recent years and remove the chief roadblock to a free trade agreement with the United States. Lee returned from a warm meeting with Bush at Camp David to see his popularity plummet in the face of accusations that he had ignored public sentiment and been too generous with Washington. A popular investigative television show questioning the safety of American beef and making the sensationalist claim the Koreans are genetically more susceptible to the disease added to the firestorm of criticism, especially among university students.