Chapter 415 Beef Controversy
Chapter 415 Beef Controversy
As we enter mid-April, signs of warming weather are becoming more and more obvious, and the rain in Seoul is becoming more and more frequent.
As dusk approached, the drizzle that had started at 3pm was still falling. The black Chevrolet Suburban left the Inwangsan Villa and headed south towards Gangnam District.
Sun Manzhu felt a little unwell today, so An Rushong accompanied her to Samsung Sanatorium for a check-up. In the afternoon, he accompanied her to the toy factory, then sent her home. He then left the villa immediately and went to NGN Company to handle some matters.
Of course, the so-called going to the company to handle affairs was just an excuse An Rushong gave to his woman. What he really wanted to do was to meet with Han Meiyan.
Men are really strange creatures, just like An Rushong. Ever since his rebirth, all he has wanted is to live a carefree life and experience the life of those Korean chaebols that he envied in his previous life, so that he can be reborn without regrets.
Initially, in his mind, it was impossible for him, after his rebirth, to place his feelings on any woman. He was not willing to give up vast tracts of forest for a tree.
But the reality is that although he is not married to Sun Manzhu or Li Caicao, he seems to have gotten used to living with these two women. Just like when Sun Manzhu and Li Caicao left Korea some time ago, he was still a little uncomfortable. Every day, he still has some concerns about these two women.
But as the two returned to Seoul and were in the same room with him again, he felt a little bored from time to time, and always wanted to go out to pick two "wild flowers". Even if he didn't go out to pick flowers, he felt happier just being alone.
It is said that women are "disrespectful if you get close to them, and resentful if you stay away from them." Now it seems that men have the same problem.
The car drove to the north end of the Yongdong Bridge across the Han River. When passing the intersection of Manbu 21st Street, Luo Minzhi parked the car on the side of the road. A moment later, two women holding umbrellas walked over slowly and stopped by the right rear door of the car.
An Rushong sat steadily in his seat, looking at the woman standing on the roadside outside the car. The other party slightly raised the edge of the umbrella in front of her, revealing the bright and sexy little face under the umbrella. She just looked at him with a smile, but she was still unwilling to open the car door herself.
The three of them, one inside the car and two outside, just stared at each other for a few seconds. Luo Minzhi, who was sitting in the driver's seat, seemed to sense something was wrong. He looked back through the window of the cockpit partition and projected his sight onto An Rusong's face. Seeing his half-smile, he turned his head away tactfully.
After staring at the road ahead for two or three seconds, Luo Minzhi coughed again, turned his head, and gently closed the small window on the partition.
The two women holding umbrellas outside the car were Han Miyeon and Han Xizhen, and the one standing by the car door confronting An Rusong was Han Miyeon, who was wearing a light blue skirt.
After staring at the other person for a few seconds, An Rushong shook his head helplessly and laughed, then leaned over and gently opened the car door.
As he opened the car door, Han Miyan folded up the umbrella she was holding and handed it to An Rusong, smiling and saying, "Thank you, our President An is really gracious."
"Who said it wasn't?" Behind her, Han Xizhen, who had short hair, put her head close to the car door and added with a giggle.
Ignoring the two women, An Rushong casually stuffed the wet umbrella into the map pocket on the door panel, then reached out, held the hand that Han Miyeon handed over, and pulled her into the car.
"Huh!" Han Meiyan got in the car, bringing with her a refreshing fragrance, and sat down behind An Rusong. Without waiting for An Rusong to pull Han Xizhen up, she fixed her hair and said, "This damn weather. When I looked at the weather forecast last night, it clearly said that the rain would stop at four o'clock in the afternoon, but look, it's almost six o'clock, and the rain doesn't show any sign of stopping."
After pulling Han Xizhen into the car and watching her sit in the other seat next to him, An Rusong closed the door, then bent his fingers and knocked on the partition window with his knuckles. When the car started, he turned his head to look at Han Xizhen and said, "Have you met Cui Mingde?"
Han Xizhen didn't say anything, but turned her head to look at Han Miyeon behind her.
"I have met him," Han Meiyan said without raising her head while fixing her hair. "According to what you said, the relevant contract has been signed. But I'm still very curious, what kind of background does this guy have that is worth you investing so much money in him?"
At this moment, the car started, slowly left the intersection and drove straight towards the bridge.
"You don't need to ask so many questions, just do what I say," An Rusong did not explain Cui Shizhong's affairs to her. After all, Cui Shizhong's identity was sensitive, and it would not be safe to reveal too much information about him. Han Meiyan curled her lips, with an expression of disapproval on her face, but despite this, she did not continue to ask.
As a woman next to An Rusong, she knows that her man has many secrets. Although these secrets are very curious, knowing too much is not necessarily a good thing. Most importantly, Han Miyan is a very smart woman. She knows what she wants, so she also knows what she can ignore.
Just one or two minutes later, the Chevrolet drove from the ring road onto the Yongdong Bridge. Just after passing the approach bridge, a traffic jam occurred in front. Although the Suburban had good sound insulation performance, An Rushong and the other two sitting in the car could still vaguely hear the sound of car horns one after another.
With a hint of curiosity, An Rushong opened the partition window and looked towards the front of the car.
Looking from the front of the car, you can see the rear of a Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicle in front of you. At the same time, you can also see a crowd of people stuck on the right side of the road about ten meters ahead.
Almost everyone on the road was holding an umbrella and a candle. Because of the wind on the bridge, the candles in these people's hands were not lit, but even so, An Rusong knew what these people were doing.
"Ah~~~ Xi! It's these damn guys again!" Han Xizhen also came over to take a look. When she saw those guys holding candles in their hands, she couldn't help cursing, "Don't they have anything else to do?"
The "damn guys" Han Xizhen mentioned are the people who have been marching and demonstrating in Seoul in the past two days. The purpose of these people's demonstrations is to protest against the beef import agreement signed between the Lee Min-bo government and the United States.
That's right, during this visit to the United States, Lee Min-bo, who had just taken office as South Korean President for less than two months, finally signed a trade agreement with the Americans to resume importing American beef over 30 months old. As soon as the news of Lee Min-bo's move was reported back to South Korea, it caused an uproar throughout South Korea.
As mentioned before, since the outbreak of mad cow disease in the United States in 2003, South Korea has implemented stricter restrictions on imported beef from the United States. In the past five years, South Korea has strictly restricted the import of American beef over 30 months old.
As a result, there have been many frictions between the United States and South Korea in the field of trade. The former has been exerting pressure on the latter in many areas, trying to force the latter to lift the ban in this regard.
However, during the years when President Roh was in power, although South Korea and the United States held four rounds of negotiations, they were never able to reach a compromise that satisfied both sides.
With Lee Min-bok taking office at the Blue House, his first diplomatic measure was to further strengthen the South Korea-US relationship and strive to sign a new South Korea-US Free Trade Agreement. Lee Min-bok chose the United States as his first country to visit after taking office as president, hoping to win the new South Korea-US Free Trade Agreement and add points to his administration.
At the beginning, all walks of life in South Korea also placed high hopes on Lee Min-bo's visit to the United States, especially automobile manufacturers like Hyundai, who hoped that the free trade agreement between South Korea and the United States could be signed as soon as possible to remove obstacles for South Korean cars to enter the US market.
But no one expected that during his visit to the United States, Li Minbo signed a new beef import agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce within just a few days, breaking the "bottom line" that President Roh had been adhering to for the past five years without reservation.
When the news reached South Korea, it triggered a demonstration organized by the progressive opposition party that day, with 20,000 people participating, expressing their firm opposition to the new beef trade agreement.
To make matters worse, on the 14th, which was supposed to be the first meeting of the new National Assembly, the three major opposition parties, all belonging to the progressive camp, issued a joint statement announcing their firm boycott of the National Assembly and declaring that they would indefinitely postpone the first meeting of the National Assembly until the Lee Min-bo government officially announced the withdrawal of the new beef agreement.
In addition, because the new beef trade agreement directly infringes on the interests of the Korean beef farming industry, the Korea Beef Association has also directly participated in this opposition. It is reported that the Korea Beef Association not only personally organized the Korean beef farmers' marches and demonstrations, but also provided "economic compensation" to those who took to the streets. Anyone who participates in the marches and demonstrations can apply for a certain amount of cash rewards from the Korea Beef Association.
An Rusong knew that this incident would be a heavy political blow to Li Minbo, who had just taken office. Apart from other things, his public support would plummet. But then again, before Li Minbo made this decision, would he not have anticipated the consequences?
An Rushong believed that with Li Minbo's political acumen, he could not have failed to foresee such consequences, but as a new conservative president, he had no choice at all on the issue of the new beef agreement.
(End of this chapter)