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SEOUL : South Korea's government insisted Wednesday it would not backtrack on an agreement to open its market to US beef, despite an Internet-driven tide of public criticism.
But President Lee Myung-Bak vowed to stop the imports if public health is threatened, amid growing concerns about the dangers of mad cow disease.
Opening up the beef market is a key precondition for US legislative approval of a wider free trade agreement (FTA) signed last year.
Seoul wants its own parliament to approve the FTA this month to persuade the US Congress also to move quickly.
Seoul and Washington say US beef is totally safe. But thousands of people, many of whom are apparently responding to Internet scare campaigns, have staged candlelit protests against US beef imports.
Lee said in the southern city of Jeonju that the government is always determined to protect public health.
"The government will immediately stop beef imports and work out relevant steps should the opening of our beef market pose any threat to the health of our people," he said.
"I know many people are very concerned about the opening of our beef market. Nothing is more important than the lives of the people... I'll actively work to dispel any public concerns."
South Korea agreed last month to lift the ban, on the eve of a Washington summit between Lee and George W. Bush.
Opponents say Seoul has not secured enough safeguards against the dangers of mad cow disease. They have urged the government to scrap or at least renegotiate the deal.
At a hearing in parliament, opposition lawmakers blasted the government for "hasty" negotiations without taking proper precautions against mad cow disease.
Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-Chun said the beef deal was based on "scientific data."
"I cannot say US slaughterhouses are absolutely safe but there will be no problems because of tightened rules," he said.
US beef has also met international safety standards, he said, adding the number of mad cow cases worldwide had dramatically declined.
The agriculture ministry plans to send inspectors to check sanitary standards at 31 US slaughterhouses. But it said it would resume inspections of shipments this month, so they can be cleared for sale.
Kang Jae-Sup, head of Lee's Grand National Party, told parliament that Seoul should consider renegotiation only if there is a new outbreak of mad cow disease.
He called for early ratification of the free trade pact.
US Trade Representative Susan Schwab told a Washington think tank Tuesday that US beef is "perfectly safe" and criticised some South Korean media coverage as inflammatory and misleading.
Internet campaigns fuelled fears of mad cow disease following a popular TV programme which claimed that Seoul agreed to import US beef without sufficient safeguards.
Police are tracking down rumour-mongers who use the Internet and text messages. One such rumour falsely alleged a huge rise in the number of US Alzheimer's patients due to mad cow disease.
Liberal groups have turned their protests into an anti-government campaign.
A web petition launched last month to call for the impeachment of Lee found a swell of support over the past week, with more than one million Internet users adding their signatures. It has no legal effect.
Lee's online mini homepage was paralysed under onslaughts from users who bombarded it with messages protesting against the beef deal.
- AFP /ls
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