Seoul to implement new US beef import conditions this week: officials
Yonhap | 2008/06/23
Seoul to implement new U.S. beef import conditions this week: officials
By Shin Hae-in
SEOUL, June 23 (Yonhap) — The South Korean government will put new U.S. beef import terms into effect as early as this week, officials said on Monday, signaling a full resumption of imports, which have been suspended for nearly five years.
Amid intense local protests against an original beef accord struck on April 18, Seoul and Washington held an additional round of talks last week, agreeing to ban shipments of beef from cattle older than 30 months. Washington also agreed not to export beef parts considered most vulnerable to mad cow disease, including heads and spinal cords.
Although hundreds of citizens demanding a complete renegotiation of the April accord continued their street protests over the weekend, recent polls have shown that the majority approves of the additional agreement.
"We have fixed the date for government posting of the new import rules for sometime this week," a government official, declining to be named, said after a government-ruling party policy coordination meeting on Monday. "The exact date will be announced by the ruling party later in the week."
The agreement’s implementation, originally scheduled for May 15, has already been postponed twice due to intensifying domestic protests questioning the safety of U.S. beef.
Quarantine inspections of beef shipments will take place two or three days after Seoul officially posts the new import conditions on the government gazette this week.
South Korea’s prime minister requested ministers to prepare measures for stricter quarantine inspections of U.S. beef during a meeting on Monday, also implying imports will soon resume.
Speaking at a meeting of ruling Grand National Party members earlier in the day, Seoul’s Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon suggested making a "blacklist" of U.S. beef exporters that violate the additional trade rules to effectively ban beef from older cattle.
Kim, however, spoke against tightening control of beef exporters by obliging them to acquire additional permission from the South Korean government, citing international trade rules.
Such a measure has been suggested by critics who question the efficiency of the voluntary age restrictions by U.S. beef exporters, despite the U.S. government guarantee secured via last week’s additional talks.
After suspending imports in 2003 following the first U.S. case of mad cow disease in Washington, Seoul partially lifted the restrictions in 2006, allowing only imports of boneless products to minimize human health risks. But imports were halted again last year after bone fragments were discovered in U.S. shipments in violation of the import terms at the time.
Spurning the planned move, opposition parties pressed the government to delay the implementation of the agreement until sufficient countermeasures are set up to fully ease public concerns.
"Imports must not resume until the public fears are completely eased," floor leaders of the three opposition parties said in a statement after a meeting on Monday.
The three parties, led by the United Democratic Party, have been boycotting the newly launched parliament since May 30, demanding the ruling party’s cooperation in revising the local animal disease law for stricter beef import terms.
Their move to join the street protests, however, has been drawing cool public response, with a majority of citizens urging them to get back to work.
Asserting their boycott can "no longer be justified," the ruling party urged the opposition to immediately return to parliament.
"The government has done its best, and opposition parties are no longer needed in the street protests," said ruling party leader Kang Jae-sup during a senior members’ meeting Monday. "Opposition parties must return immediately. The parliament can no longer abandon its duties."
