January 3, 2007

South Korea to discuss US beef imports next week
 

South Korea plans to hold talks with the US on beef issues next week, said a Seoul Agriculture Ministry official.

The exact date of the meeting still remains unknown, said Kim Chang-seob, chief veterinary officer of the Agriculture Ministry.

Washington on Dec 12 proposed holding a consultation meeting on the beef dispute stemming from South Korea's standard of "de-boned" beef, which the US government has criticised as having been "invented."

The meeting comes ahead of the sixth round of bilateral talks aimed at establishing a free trade agreement, scheduled to begin in Seoul on Jan 15. As a condition for clinching a successful FTA with the world's largest economy, Washington has requested that South Korea's beef market be fully open to US competition.

South Korea was the third-largest beef market for the US until it banned imports in December 2003 following confirmation of a case of mad cow disease.

Seoul and Washington agreed in January last year to resume imports of de-boned skeletal muscle meat from cattle less than 30 months of age. However, since the resumption of beef imports, Seoul has rejected US shipments thrice after detecting bone fragments in them.

The US officials have been insisting on discussing Seoul's quarantine and inspection procedures with South Korean Agriculture Ministry officials and quarantine experts.

Farmers in South Korea are against the proposed FTA as they fear losing their livelihoods as a result of an influx of cheaper, high-quality American produce and livestock.

Food safety regulations and animal health standards, or sanitary and phytosanitary regulations, have been one of the bone of contentions in the South Korea-US FTA negotiations. Seoul's "strict" regulations have been cited as barriers to trade.