South Korea court tells TV station to correct mad cow report
Agence France-Presse
First Posted 18:11:00 07/31/2008
SEOUL -- A South Korean court on Thursday ordered a leading TV station to air a correction on its report about mad cow disease that contributed to widespread protests against US beef imports.
The Seoul District Court ruled that the report by MBC, one of the country's three major broadcasters, on the danger of mad cow disease was partially wrong and exaggerated the threat.
Seoul and Washington reached a deal in April to resume imports in the hope it would pave the way for a wider free trade agreement.
But the deal sparked almost daily street protests which rocked President Lee Myung-Bak's newly elected conservative government and led him to sack three cabinet ministers.
Tens of thousands of people have rallied for weeks, many of them apparently responding to Internet scare campaigns and MBC's investigative news program "PD Notepad."
"PD Notepad should broadcast a correction about its wrong report on mad cow disease," Judge Kim Sung-Gon said.
The agriculture ministry has filed a suit accusing MBC of exaggerating the risk of mad cow disease. MBC has insisted its report was aimed at encouraging measures to safeguard public health.
The ministry said the report implied that mad cow disease was a probable cause of the symptoms of "downers" -- cattle that cannot stand or walk -- by using footage of downer cows from a US-based animal protection group.
Street protests have largely ended since the government secured extra health safeguards from Washington, but some hardcore protesters continue to campaign.
Under new guidelines, the United States should export beef to South Korea only from cattle less than 30 months old, in an attempt to alleviate fears of the disease. Older cattle are seen as potentially more at risk.
|
