December 8, 2006

 

South Korea, US officials meet over beef trade complaint

 

 

US and South Korean officials, in the wake of harsh words by US Department of Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns on beef trade disruptions, met late Wednesday (Dec 6) evening to try to resolve differences, according to US government officials.

 

Seok-young Choi, a minister at South Korea's US embassy, met late Wednesday evening with high-level USDA officials just hours after Johanns said South Korea's market was effectively closed to US beef.

 

USDA spokeswoman Terri Teuber confirmed Thursday the Wednesday meeting between the South Korea official and USDA officials was over beef trade and the purpose of the meeting was to try to work out differences between the countries.

 

Teuber confirmed that USDA Undersecretary for Food Safety Richard Raymond and Deputy Undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programmes Chuck Lambert were at the meeting.

 

South Korea has rejected the only three attempts by US exporters to ship beef there after the country announced in September that its market was open to imports.

 

South Korea was the second-largest foreign market for US beef before the USDA announced finding the first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, in December 2003. South Korea, along with most major importers, immediately banned US beef.

 

Johanns, incensed over what he called baseless rejections of US beef shipments, accused South Korea of intentionally looking for excuses to block trade.

 

Johanns told a gathering of reporters Wednesday morning that South Korea "sent the message that their market is not commercially viable for US beef. South Korea is attempting to claim its border is open to US beef while refusing to allow trade to take place."

 

The USDA Secretary's remarks seemed to take South Korean officials by surprise, said one USDA official who asked not to be named. South Korea was reaching out to the Bush administration in an attempt to soothe frustrations over the country's rejection of US beef exports, the official said.