August 29, 2007

South Korean lawmaker says 59 percent of US beef exports failed inspection

A South Korean lawmaker claims that the Korean government has covered the actual rate of violations in US beef import inspections.

Representative Hong Moon-pyo of the Grand National Party said Tuesday (August 28) that 188 violations were recorded from last October's resumption of US beef imports until late last month according to Agriculture Ministry data. He said that was 59 percent of the total 319 inspected cases but that the government had announced only eight.

The banned bone chips and some metal substances were found on 163 shipments of the 188 cargoes during the inspections.

Hong said that Korea-US import rules call for a halt on imports in case of continued violation and accused the government of being overly lenient for only suspending inspections. He also urged Washington to give a detailed explanation for the violation.