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WORLD> Asia-Pacific
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South Korea says could resume beef imports next week
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-06-21 18:40 SEOUL - South Korea, which reworked an unpopular US beef import deal that sparked street protests, could resume imports as early as next week once a legal step has been completed, the trade minister said on Saturday.
South Korea and the United States reached a private-sector deal in Washington this week to limit US beef exports to cattle under 30 months of age, which are thought to pose less of a risk of mad cow disease, Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon told reporters on Saturday. Kim said after the news conference the publication of the notice that would start the legal process to resume quarantine inspections was expected "some time next week". Once the legal notice is published, US beef that has been in frozen storage in South Korea for months could be inspected and then head to store shelves. This could happen as early as next week, although Kim later said that it might not be so soon because of the sensitivity of the issue for South Koreans. A US beef import deal struck in April that would allow in all cuts of US beef regardless of age led to a crisis for the government of new President Lee Myung-bak, who sent Kim to Washington this week to rework the agreement. The deal Kim reached would also limit trade in beef parts seen as posing a higher risk for mad cow disease. Kim said the deal reached in Washington provided appropriate safeguards.
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