The South Korean government's reversal of a ban on American beef imports in 2008 caused enormous political and social upheaval in the country. The government's acquiescence to the United States' request to resume imports of boned beef and beef from cattle slaughtered over the age of 30 months led to overwhelming negative publicity, as mass media described the decision as yielding to U.S. pressure at the expense of public health. Koreans gathered to demonstrate against the agreement; the resulting “candlelight protest” quickly intensified, spreading across the country from May 2008 through August 2008. Given the different opinions regarding the main causes of the event, this study revisits the issue by empirically testing for switches in meat demand for different types of meat among South Korean consumers. The results indicate that there was no structural change in meat demand around the candlelight protest period, which suggests that variations in meat demand during that period can be explained by changes in relative prices between different types of meat. This implies that unlike the findings of previous studies, the negative consumer reaction was not associated with risk‐averse behavior concerning the consumption of U.S. beef.

中文翻译：

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在韩国的烛光抗议中，消费者对美国牛肉进口的强烈反应背后的驱动因素

韩国政府取消了2008年禁止进口美国牛肉的禁令，导致韩国发生了巨大的政治和社会动荡。政府默认美国要求恢复进口带骨牛肉和从30个月以上被屠宰的牛只牛肉的请求，导致压倒性的负面宣传，因为大众媒体称该决定屈服于美国压力，以牺牲公共卫生为代价。韩国人聚集在一起抗议该协定。随之而来的“烛光抗议”迅速加剧，从2008年5月至2008年8月在全国蔓延。鉴于对造成这一事件的主要原因的看法各异，本研究通过实证测试不同类型肉类的肉类需求变化来重新审视这一问题。在韩国消费者中。结果表明，在烛光抗议期间，肉类需求没有结构性变化，这表明该时期内肉类需求的变化可以用不同类型肉类之间的相对价格变化来解释。这意味着与以前的研究结果不同，消极的消费者反应与美国牛肉消费的规避风险行为无关。