February 8, 2007

US-South Korea beef issue unresolved

South Korea has reportedly rejected US request for easing restrictions on beef shipments.

A two-day meeting over beef issue, which began on Feb 7 in Seoul, failed to see any progress on the matter.

While, the US insisted on being allowed to export beef with bone fragments, South Korea stood firm in its denial of the same, according to a report in the "Korea Times".

The US team urged South Korea to inspect the beef shipments on a sampling-based quarantine system, not on a system probing all products.

South Korea has rejected all three shipments of US beef citing the presence of bone fragments in them. Trade between the two countries resumed after a gap of nearly three years on the condition that the US would only send boneless beef. South Korea had earlier banned US beef due to concerns over foot-and-mouth disease.