October 22, 2007

Seoul will not revise US beef import rules for FTA

The agriculture ministry of South Korea on Friday (October 22) said it will not rewrite US beef import rules with the ratification of the free trade agreement (FTA) that was signed in late June.

Agriculture Minister Im Sang-gyu told lawmakers that Seoul remains firm on safeguarding public heath and will employ all scientific data to assess risks associated with American beef consumption.

The remark follows US lawmakers' pressure on South Korea to revise its import guidelines before approving the open trade pact. Washington has been asking for a revision to the sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) since late May upon the classification of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) for the US as a "controlled risk" country for mad cow disease or scientifically known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

The classification technically allows the US to export most cow parts, including skulls, vertebrae and brains.

South Korea has banned US beef in December 2003 due to BSE discovery on an American cattle farm.

Though current SPS rules, reached in January 2006, has lifted South Korea's blanket ban of US beef, it only allowed the import of boneless beef from cattle under 30 months old.

Im said OIE's decision do not bind countries to unconditionally accept the guidelines.

The two countries held a working level technical meeting of beef experts last week to exchange views on the rewriting of the SPS, but made no headway, because the United States wanted all restrictions lifted on American beef.

Sources inside the ministry said South Korea and United States will hold more talks in November with the aim of resolving outstanding differences.