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SEOUL : South Korea's embattled President Lee Myung-Bak on Friday replaced seven top aides to give his government a fresh start after weeks of mass protests against a US beef import deal.
"We will do our best for our people, humbly paying attention to public opinion," Lee told a ceremony at which he appointed replacements for chief of staff Yu Woo-Ik and six senior presidential secretaries.
"From now, I will make a fresh start," said Lee, repeating a pledge he made Thursday during a televised apology for the turmoil sparked by fears of mad cow disease.
The conservative leader, elected with a record majority, has seen his popularity slump below 20 percent and his four-month-old government has been severely shaken.
But there were some signs of hope Friday.
After lengthy and intensive talks in Washington, the US and South Korea were reportedly close to agreement on extra health safeguards for the beef imports.
In further good news after a nightmare month, truckers who crippled ports with a strike against high fuel prices were going back to work.
Lee's government, eager to clear the way for a wider free trade deal, agreed in April to lift most restrictions on lucrative US beef imports.
These were suspended in 2003 after a mad cow disease case in the US.
The deal, and the hasty way it was reached, sparked a political crisis.
Tens of thousands of protesters began a month of rallies fuelled by fears of mad cow disease and other grievances against the government.
The pact to resume imports has not yet gone into force because of the protests, even though both governments say the meat is totally safe.
"We have made good progress this week and are close to reaching a mutually agreeable path forward," said US trade spokeswoman Gretchen Hamel in Washington.
In Seoul, the foreign ministry said "considerable progress was made and both sides neared mutually satisfactory results."
The Seoul government will announce the outcome Saturday after being briefed by its chief negotiator, Trade Minister Kim Jong-Hoon.
Lee vowed Thursday to secure US government guarantees of a ban on exports of older cattle which are seen as potentially more at risk of disease.
All top presidential secretaries and the entire cabinet had offered to quit earlier this month to let Lee make a new start.
He will announce a cabinet reshuffle later this month but has indicated it will be less extensive than the secretarial shake-up.
Lee, a hard-driving former business executive, on Thursday also promised to drop an unpopular cross-country canal plan if people do not want it.
"I should have paid attention to what people want," he said. "I and my government will acutely reflect on this."
At least 100,000 people took to Seoul's streets on June 10, although recent protests have been much smaller.
Only 800 showed up Thursday night, according to police estimates.
US President George W Bush will visit South Korea early next month as scheduled since rallies appear to be dying down, a senior foreign ministry was quoted by Yonhap news agency as saying on condition of anonymity.
His Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit on June 28-29 to discuss the agenda and try to push ahead with North Korean nuclear disarmament negotiations.
South Korea was once the third largest market for US beef, with imports worth 850 million dollars a year before the 2003 ban.
Congress members say it will be impossible to ratify the wider free trade deal until the beef market is opened up.
Ulsan university president Chung Chung-Kil, who served as a policy adviser to various government organisations, becomes the new chief of staff. - AFP/ms
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