South Korean President Lee Myung-bak showed no signs Sunday of dropping a plan to resume U.S. beef imports, despite nearly 40,000 people holding an anti-government protest marked by clashes between police and demonstrators.Scattered rallies and marches continued after police fired water cannons in the pre-dawn hours and detained more than 200 people who took part in the demonstration that began Saturday night. It was the biggest protest yet against the government's determination to carry out an import agreement with Washington that opponents say could expose South Koreans to beef tainted with mad cow disease (news) .

Angry South Koreans have held almost daily rallies for a month, claiming that U.S. beef is unsafe and blasting Lee for ignoring their concerns.



South Korea agreed on April 18 to reopen what was formerly the third-largest overseas market for U.S. beef. The country had banned it for most of the past four and a half years after the first U.S. case of mad cow disease was found in Washington state in 2003.

That deal, coupled with some media reports, increased fears of potential exposure to the brain-wasting cattle disease and triggered the protests.

On Saturday night, students, labor union members and office workers were among those who filled a plaza in front of city hall for a peaceful rally. Police estimated the crowd at 38,000.

Some protesters later tried to march toward the presidential Blue House but were blocked in the early hours Sunday by police buses, prompting angry reactions and sporadic clashes.

Police fired water cannons in three downtown areas to try to disperse the crowds. Dozens were hurt, though none of the injuries appeared serious.

A total of 228 people were taken away for questioning with six later released, said a Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency officer. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The government announced Thursday it would implement the agreement and resume beef imports this week.

The issue has emerged as the biggest political challenge for Lee's fledgling administration. He took office Feb. 25 on a wave of popularity with a vow to boost the economy.

Though Lee's victory margin in December's election was the largest ever in South Korea, his handling of the beef agreement has seen his popularity plummet to levels near 20 percent.

Lee has shown no signs of backing away from the import agreement, but has apologized to the nation for his handling of the deal.

His office again had no comment Sunday on the latest protest.

The timing of the April deal — just hours before Lee's summit with President Bush (web|news|bio) at his Camp David retreat — struck a raw nerve among South Koreans.

Protesters claim Lee was too quick to concede to U.S. demands for access to South Korea's beef market to win favor with Washington and garner support in Congress for ratification of a separate free trade agreement.

Scientists believe mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, spreads when farmers feed cattle recycled meat and bones from infected animals. The U.S. banned recycled feeds in 1997.

In humans, eating meat products contaminated with the cattle disease is linked to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare and fatal malady.

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