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SEOUL: South Korea on Tuesday announced a 30-month age limit on US beef as a condition for resuming imports, risking a standoff with Washington after days of protests here sparked by fears of mad cow disease.
Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-Chun said South Korea would not accept any US beef from cattle older than 30 months, and would suspend plans to restart imports until Washington complies.
"The government has requested the United States not to export any beef from cattle older than 30 months, which the people are most concerned about," Chung said on television.
"We won't announce new quarantine conditions (needed for resuming US beef imports) until the United States gives an answer to this request."
The move comes after the Seoul government announced late Monday that it was delaying its resumption of imports in the wake of high-profile and sometimes violent protests which have resulted in hundreds of arrests.
"It was a measure to humbly accept the people's will," Chun said of Monday's decision.
There was no immediate response from Washington to the latest statement, which was made as President Lee Myung-Bak marks his 100th day in office Tuesday amid plummeting support.
South Korea lifted its intermittent ban on US beef imports last week despite the escalating demonstrations as it struggles to ratify a sweeping free trade deal with the US, the world's biggest economy.
An initial agreement struck in April calls for Seoul to buy almost all beef cuts, including those from cattle over 30 months old. Older animals are deemed more likely to be a mad cow disease risk.
With procedural steps to lift the ban originally due to be completed on Tuesday, thousands of protesters have been staging candle-lit demonstrations in Seoul and other cities for more than a week.
The demonstrations have been increasingly violent and anti-government, with thousands of rowdy protesters demanding Lee's resignation and trying repeatedly to march on the presidential office.
The row has reportedly hit the popularity of Lee, who won a landslide election victory in December on a promise to reactivate the sluggish economy.
The pro-business president's approval rating has dropped to 21.2 percent from 52 percent in March, according to a Chosun daily survey, as hopes of a quick economic recovery fade.
"What's even more chilling is that even those among the public who are not taking part in the demonstrations are looking at the government with increasing disdain," a Chosun editorial said.
They have been "shaking their heads in disapproval at the inexperience of the government" and are unhappy with its ministerial appointments and policy failures, it said.
"Acting as a president is different from acting as a business CEO," Lee Nae-Young, political science professor of Seoul National University, told AFP.
The president, a former construction CEO who earned a nickname "Bulldozer" for his forceful style, needs to improve his communication with the people, analysts said.
"He should change an authoritarian style of leadership to a people-friendly one," said Yonsei University sociology professor Kim Ho-Ki.
The pro-business JoongAng daily said the Lee government has "lost people's trust."
"Today marks the 100th day of the government of President Lee Myung-Bak. Looking back, it was 100 days of failure," it said in an editorial.
- AFP/so
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