South Korea announced yesterday it had secured extra health safeguards from the US on beef imports, a move aimed at ending weeks of mass protests that rocked the government.
Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-chun said the US had agreed not to export beef to South Korea from cattle older than 30 months, in an attempt to alleviate Koreans’ fears of mad cow disease.
“It has been agreed in the negotiations that beef from US cattle more than 30 months old should not be exported to South Korea until consumer confidence is restored,” he told a press conference.
Chung also confirmed a ban on parts like brains, eyes, skulls and spinal cords — on top of those parts which are already banned — which are deemed likely to harbor the disease.
Also at the press conference was Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon, who held intensive negotiations in Washington with US Trade Representative Susan Schwab.
Kim said the US government had agreed to operate an age verification system for the exports known as a quality system assessment (QSA). Older cattle are seen as potentially more at risk of the disease.
“The QSA for South Korea will last until consumer confidence is restored, without a specific timeframe being set,” he said. Any products which had not gone through the program would be shipped back immediately.
The US would also let South Korea inspect US beef processing plants. It would be allowed to ban products from any plant following two violations of the new rules.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who took office in February, has faced a growing crisis over his government’s agreement in April to resume the beef imports to clear the way for approval of a wider free trade deal.
South Korea was once the third largest market for US beef, with imports worth US$850 million a year until they were suspended in 2003 after a US case of mad cow disease.
US Congress members have said it will be impossible to ratify the wider trade deal until the beef market is opened up.
But South Koreans angry at the supposed health risks, or with the new conservative government’s general record, have pushed Lee’s popularity ratings below 20 percent.
On Friday he replaced almost all his top aides to give his government a fresh start and is expected to announce a partial cabinet reshuffle next week.
The pact to resume imports has not yet gone into force because of the protests, even though both governments say the meat is totally safe.
A coalition of protest groups said it would continue a candlelight rally in Seoul over the weekend, dismissing the deal as insufficient.
It was unclear how much support they would get. Police estimates said that some 100,000 people packed central Seoul in a June 10 protest, but rallies since then have been far smaller.
The US beef industry on Friday had offered to meet South Korean concerns by limiting exports “as a transitional measure.”
The US Meat Export Federation, the American Meat Institute and the National Meat Association said in a statement they were “confident that all beef produced in the United States is safe regardless of age.”
But they were prepared to limit exports to products from cattle less than 30 months of age under a program verified by the US Department of Agriculture “as a transitional measure to full market opening consistent with OIE [World Organization for Animal Health] guidelines.”
The OIE deemed US beef safe in May last year.
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