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SEOUL: South Korean authorities on Friday pushed ahead with procedures to release US beef to the market as violent protests and an opposition boycott of parliament continued unabated.
Quarantine inspectors were sent to nine refrigerated warehouses in Gyeonggi province surrounding Seoul where hundreds of tonnes of US beef have been kept frozen since last October.
"They will open some samples, check their temperature to see whether they have been kept frozen in proper conditions and run them through X-rays to find whether there are any items out of the ordinary," an official of the National Veterinarian Research and Quarantine Service told AFP.
He said five companies had asked for inspection of the shipments.
"The inspection is expected to last until Monday. After the importers pay tariffs, they will be able to distribute the beef as early as the middle of next week," the official said on condition of anonymity.
A total of 5,300 tonnes of US beef is in cold storage, mostly near Seoul and the southern port of Busan.
Mass protests sparked by fears of mad cow disease began 50 days ago, after Seoul signed a deal in April to resume the imports in hopes of pushing forward with a wider trade deal.
The imports had been halted in 2003 after a US mad cow case.
Despite the April accord authorities delayed their resumption, amid street protests against supposed health risks and against government policies in general.
Rallies became more violent when the government formally resumed the trade on Thursday after negotiating extra safeguards with the US.
Police used water cannon and fire extinguishers on protesters who tried to scale barricades formed of police buses blocking access to the presidential palace on Thursday.
Out of a crowd estimated by police at 3,000, hundreds tried to climb the barricade or tug the buses away with ropes.
President Lee Myung-Bak, whose government has been rocked by the mass rallies, has appealed for an end to them.
But members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions continued picketing the approach to a pier in Busan where 3,300 tonnes of frozen US beef is awaiting inspection and distribution.
The main opposition United Democratic Party, which is boycotting parliament, vowed to resort to "all means possible under the laws to nullify" the decision to resume the US beef imports.
"The prime minister (Han Seung-Soo) and other ministers responsible for the beef deal must be sacked immediately and those responsible for violence against innocent people must be punished," said party floor leader Won Hye-Young.
Many protesters and riot police have been injured and hundreds detained during the rallies. - AFP/jk
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