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SEOUL - South Korea will delay the planned resumption of US beef imports, the agriculture minister said Wednesday, as the government grappled with street protests fuelled by fears of mad cow disease.
The agriculture ministry had planned to announce new relaxed sanitary standards for US beef on Thursday, ending an effective ban on imports in place since last October.
"It would be practically impossible (to make the announcement on Thursday)," Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-Chun told parliament.
He answered "Yes" when asked by a lawmaker whether the government must delay the announcement.
It was not clear how long the delay would be.Opening the beef market is an essential US precondition for approval of a separate US-South Korean free trade agreement (FTA).
The FTA, billed as the most significant pact between the two countries in half a century, was signed last June but legislators in both countries must ratify it.
On the eve of President Lee Myung-Bak's first summit with President George W. Bush last month, the two sides signed the deal opening up the beef market in hopes of pushing along the wider trade pact.
But the move backfired in Korea, where tens of thousands in total staged a series of candlelit protest rallies.
Rumours spread by the Internet and mobile phone texting claim the imports carry a danger of the human form of mad cow disease, even though Seoul and Washington insist the risk is virtually non-existent.
Opposition parties in parliament have said they will not ratify the FTA unless the Seoul government agrees to renegotiate the beef deal.
Lee Han-Koo, top policymaker of Lee's Grand National Party, said earlier the party favours delaying the resumption of imports.
"The people still have doubts (over the safety of US beef) and we need more time to clear them," Lee told journalists. But he ruled out any re-negotiation.
On Tuesday President Lee admitted his government had not explained its beef policy properly.
Total trade between South Korea and the US is worth an annual US$80 billion and some studies show this could eventually rise by up to US$20 billion under a free trade regime. - AFP/vm
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