Inter Press Service | November 12, 1999 | By Ahn Mi-Young
SEOUL - Son Yoon-Hee no longer reaches for the bean paste cakes at the supermarket, although they are cheap and make a delicious soup to share with her husband and seven-year-old son.
Consumers like Yoon-Hee, 35, were disturbed to learn that the soybeans used in the bean paste - or "tubu" - are likely made from genetically modified seeds.
On Nov. 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," said Yoon-Hee. "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 neighboring 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 labelling of products that use genetically altered material.
"In Korea, it is still optional to attach the GMO label on the farm products, making none of these products with GMO labels. We must make it mandatory," said Lee So-Young, manager of the environmental group Green Cross.
On Oct. 30, 12 civic groups staged a "GMO-free food street festival" in order to collect signatures saying "I agree to the adoption of mandatory GMO labelling."
Critics also say that the issue of GMOs and labelling is not just about health, but about trade as well.
Thus, Korean campaigners against further opening up of the food market in the November meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have taken up the GMO issue too.
"GMO-labeling is a tough ride ahead," Lee said, "as they (the government) are afraid to spark a strong pressure from the U.S., the major exporter of the GMO farm products, which would then place them into the troubled trade friction."
Japan and Australia, among others, have labelling requirements but supporters of labelling products worry that their efforts may be portrayed as putting up barriers to free trade by key exporters of affected products.
In the U.S., more than 50 percent of domestically-grown soybeans are now genetically engineered and about 30 percent of corn is grown from altered seed. This means a good amount of U.S. exports contain GMOs as well.
Consumer groups here say that some 90 percent of soybean and corn used for making their favorite dishes, such as "ramen" or instant noodles, are imported mostly from the U.S.
Meanwhile, the public outcry over genetically modified food is causing concern among makers of products suspected of using GMOs, such as those that produce corn chips, corn oil, popcorn or bread, that their businesses will suffer as well.
Indeed, "tubu" makers are crying foul in the wake of plunging sales of what used to be 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 tons of genetically modified corn and 390,000 tons of soybeans in the U.S. entered South Korea. Most were used in food products like 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 their concerns about risks that activists say come with GMOs - including increased toxicity, vulnerability to allergens and resistence to antibiotics.
But officials of the Korea Food and Drug Administration say that "GMO is scientifically proven as safe to eat. In the absence of a scientific testing method to verify whether a processed food like paste bean cake is made of GMO or not, the consumers' hasty conclusion may only backfire by confusing consumers."
But public anger here has been all too real. In October, hundreds of angry demonstrators stormed the headquarters of a major "tubu" maker, Pulmoowon, in southern Seoul.
"Recall and destroy every GMO-made bean paste cake that is threatening the health of our families," they demanded.
The KFEM that led the demonstration also urged the government to mandate the labelling of GMO products. It also said it will sue Pulmoowon for neglecting to let consumers know that they use GMOs.
Lately, Korean resistance to GMOs has also been riding on the activists campaign against what they see as Western pressure to pry open the country's rice market, long a bone of contention between East Asian countries like Japan and Korea and Western governments.
On Oct. 12, 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," adds Kang Tae-wook, an activist who helped launch a "grassroots federation" against WTO negotiations on farm market opening.
At the Uruguay Round meeting in 1993, the full opening of the Korean rice market was given a moratorium until 2004 of the minimum market access (MMA). Under this, Koreans had to start importing rice from overseas. This year, some 100,000 tons of rice, or two percent of market share, came mostly from Southeast Asia.
Whether South Korea is given more time to adjust to opening up after 2004 is up for discussion at the meeting of the world's trade ministers at WTO.
Thus far, the federation has publicly pledged to boycott the production and shipment of GMOs, and to lobby the government to enact a law regulating the use of GMOs. It is drafting a proposal on this in time for the Seattle WTO meeting.
"Although it is not yet scientifically proven that (any) GMO is harmful to the human body, consumers should be granted a choice at least - to take the risk or avoid it," said Moon Eun-sook, manager of the Citizen's Meeting for Consumers.
Copyright 1999 Inter Press Service
