S. Korea seeks U.S. prosecution`s help in probe of MBC producers

SEOUL, April 17 (Yonhap) -- South Korean prosecutors said Friday they have asked
their U.S. counterparts to cooperate in an investigation into a Seoul-based
broadcaster's controversial report on the risk of contracting mad cow disease
from U.S. beef.
Producers and writers at MBC are being investigated for allegedly distorting
facts on health risks associated with the consumption of U.S. beef. The MBC
documentary series "PD Notebook," which aired a program on U.S. beef in April
last year, claimed that those who consume the meat could contract the human form
of the brain-wasting illness.
The program featured an interview of an American woman who insisted that her
daughter died of mad cow disease.
An official from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said his office
has requested U.S. prosecutors to examine the woman's claim and her daughter's
diagnosis.
Following the broadcast, tens of thousands of South Koreans took to the streets
to protest a Seoul-Washington agreement on reopening the South Korean market to
U.S. beef.
Despite MBC's apology for several translation errors and exaggerations that they
made in August last year, prosecutors have continued investigating the issue.
brk@yna.co.kr
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