South Korea to start talks with US on beef imports
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-12-19 10:20

South Korea will start talks with the United States soon on resuming U.S. beef imports, which have been banned for two years due to mad cow concerns, Seoul's agriculture ministry said on Monday.

South Korea, once the world's third-largest import market for U.S. beef, banned imports in December 2003 following the first U.S. case of the deadly mad cow disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy ( BSE).

"The ministry will start preliminary talks with the United States soon on details about opening the beef market," the ministry said in a statement.