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WASHINGTON: US and South Korean negotiators scrambled on Monday to salvage a bilateral trade deal threatened by Seoul's push to secure extra safeguards for American beef imports.
Agreement is crucial for the government of the pro-US South Korean president, Lee Myung-Bak, who has faced a month of protests against his decision to resume US beef imports.
The protests include demands for Lee, who took office less than four months ago, to step down.
Although signed in April, the beef import deal has not yet taken effect because of strong public opposition.
The on again, off again top-level trade talks were to resume later Monday in Washington, Gretchen Hamel, spokeswoman for US Trade Representative USTR) Susan Schwab, told AFP.
Trade Minister Kim Jong-Hoon met Schwab on Friday and Saturday to try to win official US backing for Seoul's decision to exclude meat from older animals.
Earlier, the South Korean foreign ministry had said the negotiations had ended without agreement and that Kim was leaving for home a day early.
Only hours later the ministry said: "At the request of the US for more ministerial-level talks, the trade minister delayed his trip home and decided to have consultations with USTR Schwab in Washington on June 16."
Hamel said in an email that Kim "is returning to Washington ... today and we expect discussions to resume later today."
"Frank and candid discussions were held Friday and Saturday. Included in that discussion was the importation of the US beef below 30 months" of age, she said.
"In order to find a mutually acceptable solution, both sides need more time to look into technical issues."
Seoul insists it cannot meet protesters' demands to renegotiate the deal, signed in April just before the first summit between president Lee and his US counterpart George W. Bush.
It says that would jeopardise a separate, wider free trade agreement (FTA) and cast doubt on South Korea's good faith as a negotiator.
But Kim is seeking a voluntary agreement by exporters and importers to exclude older US cattle, backed by some form of government guarantee.
Cattle aged over 30 months are seen as potentially more at risk from bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad-cow disease, a degenerative disease that attacks the nervous system of cattle.
The consumption of BSE-contaminated beef is linked to the development of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a similar wasting disease, in humans.
Both governments see the disease risk as virtually non-existent.
The beef issue has become a major problem for Lee's administration, who took office on February 25 vowing to improve relations with Washington.
On Sunday Lee said the US government had shown a "positive" stance toward South Korea's demand that American exporters voluntarily refrain from shipping beef from older cattle.
"The (Seoul) government's stance is firm that beef from cattle older than 30 months won't be imported in any cases," he said.
Lee's entire cabinet offered its resignation last week to give him scope for a planned reshuffle to placate the public. Some 100,000 people, according to police, protested last Tuesday in Seoul, although rallies since then have been smaller.
Lee, elected last December with a record victory margin, has seen his popularity ratings tumble to below 20 percent. Many protesters see the hasty conclusion of the beef import deal - just before the first Lee-Bush summit - as a humiliating concession to Washington. - AFP/de
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