April 1, 2009

Washington has taken steps to change South Korea's animal disease status, which will allow Seoul to export beef to the US within the next few years.

The US Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) intends to classify South Korea as foot-and-mouth disease-free region on the Federal Register on Monday (Apr 1), according to the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

APHIS took the step after it conducted a risk assessment and concluded that South Korea has the veterinary infrastructure to detect and effectively eliminate the disease.

The agency said the new classification will go into effect after May 29 if there are no objections during the 60-day-long review period.

South Korea has been asking the US since May 2007 to update its animal disease status, which has effectively made it impossible to export beef and other meat from cloven hoofed animals to the US, said Chang Ki-yoon, the ministry's chief veterinary officer.

Once the new status is given, the Korean government will take steps to get the US to open its market, Chang said.

But it may take two to three years before the US will buy South Korean beef since US sanitary and food safety standards must be met, Chang said.

South Korea has been urging for "equal access" to the US market following the reopening of its market to US beef imports last year. South Korea was hit by the foot-and-mouth disease in 2000 and 2002, with total losses amounting to KRW450 billion (US$328.6 million). It has, however, been classified as a FMD-clean region by the WTO in November 2002.

Meanwhile, beef industry sources said even if Seoul gains access to the US market, exports will likely be small as local beef costs two to three times more than that produced from US cattle.