South Korea's Beef with America
By Christine Ahn
June 13, 2008

On June 10, one million South Koreans from all walks of life poured onto the streets of Seoul, the nation's capital, to protest the newly elected President Lee Myung Bak's deal with the United States to fully open Korean markets to U.S. beef. Despite widespread concerns over the safety of U.S. beef imports, Lee acted quickly to lift the partial ban on U.S. beef to pave the way for the passage of the U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Lee knew that there would be no FTA unless Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) got the green light for the U.S. beef industry to fully resume exports to South Korea, which banned U.S. beef in 2003 after the discovery of a cow with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). more >

Food Safety on the Butcher's Block
By Christine Ahn and GRAIN
April 21, 2008

On April 11, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) released a report that found that of the national efforts to improve U.S. food safety, "none of the targets were reached in 2007." According to the CDC, 76 million Americans - one in four - come down with food poisoning every year. Among the most common is E. coli, a byproduct of the system of industrialized animal agribusiness. Americans have a common perception that the problem stems from food coming from outside the country-from China, say, or Mexico. Instead, it's our food that's the problem. more >

Upcoming Conference on Korean Reunification & U.S. Foreign Policy
UC Berkeley Alumni House
Friday, October 10, 2008

The Korea Policy Institute, in partnership with U.C. Berkeley's International Area Studies and the Center for Korean Studies, is pleased to announce a national summit on the reunification of North and South Korea and the role of U.S. foreign policy. Please mark your calendars and return to our website in the coming weeks for more detailed information!