A beef with the president

http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11527004



THE massive demonstration on the evening of Tuesday June 10th was a sight to behold. At least 100,000 protesters were crammed together in downtown Seoul, hemmed in by shipping containers dumped onto the streets and by police buses. The authorities feared violent incidents, they said. In particular they wanted to prevent the crowd from marching upon the office of the president, Lee Myung-bak. On the 21st anniversary of a protest that helped to bring down the military dictatorship of Chun Doo-hwan, Mr Lee was taking no chances. But he and his government look increasingly isolated.

It was doubtful, in any case, that the candlelit demonstration would have turned violent. Mothers pushing babies in prams, Catholic nuns, pensioners and school girls prim in their uniforms were unlikely to turn into a Molotov-cocktail throwing mob. A Buddhist monk held aloft one of many signs calling on Mr Lee to resign.

A few hours earlier, South Korea’s 15 cabinet ministers, plus the prime minister, had submitted their resignations. They joined Mr Lee’s nine senior aides, including his chief-of-staff, who had also offered to quit. The president’s office hints that five ministers may actually go, including the prime minister and the ministers of agriculture and foreign affairs. Mr Lee needs to placate a public angered by the government’s decision in April to resume beef imports from America. These were stopped in 2003 after mad cow disease was found in American cattle.

South Koreans, who eat almost all parts of a cow, fear that American beef is still unsafe. Mr Lee and the American ambassador to South Korea have imperiously dismissed such concerns. A restive public suspects that the two countries’ free-trade agreement is being placed above their health concerns. The resignations by Mr Lee’s cabinet impressed few South Koreans.

Now Mr Lee is left with little room to move. A renegotiation of the free-trade deal to account for South Korean health concerns—as the government said it would seek to do, last week—is unlikely to go down well in America. But the alternative is more isolation at home amid worsening dissatisfaction over rising prices and unemployment: a recent Gallup poll found that 81% of Koreans would support renegotiation of the deal. The president’s Grand National Party suffered a precipitous drop in support in local elections last week. Last week he marked his hundredth day in office with little to celebrate. His personal approval rating has slumped by 31 points since his inauguration and sits around 21%, according to Gallup, a pollster.

It is not only beef that is causing him problems. Since his landslide victory in December, he has adopted an imperial style of leadership reminiscent of his days as chief executive of various arms of Hyundai, a conglomerate. Ignoring calls from many in South Korea for a more conciliatory style, he has pushed a controversial scheme to construct a system of canals. He has alienated civil servants by publicly berating them and threatening to cull their numbers in the interests of efficiency. And he has told state-run corporations they will be privatised, replacing many of their bosses with his loyalists

Without popular backing it is doubtful Mr Lee ambitious legislative agenda will be passed by parliament. The nightly protests against American beef imports are as much about Mr Lee as they are about mad cows. The president, a proud man who has risen from poverty, needs to soften his image and regain public trust. He has little time.

His one glimmer of hope is that the public also seems to be fed up with rival politicians. The main opposition United Democratic Party has yet to recover support after suffering devastating losses in April's parliamentary elections. Even a UDP spokesman puts the party's approval rating at less than 20%.