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SEOUL : South Korea announced Saturday it has secured extra health safeguards from the United States on beef imports, a move aimed at ending weeks of mass protests that rocked the government here.
Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-Chun said Washington has agreed not to export beef to South Korea from cattle older than 30 months, in an attempt to alleviate Koreans' fears of mad cow disease.
"It has been agreed in the negotiations that beef from US cattle more than 30 months old should not be exported to South Korea until consumer confidence is restored," he told a press conference.
Chung also confirmed a ban on parts like brains, eyes, skulls and spinal cords -- on top of those already banned cattle parts -- which are deemed likely to harbour the disease.
"The outcome of the additional beef talks should completely remove the public concerns," Prime Minister Han Seung-Soo told a meeting with ruling party officials.
Also at the press conference was Trade Minister Kim Jong-Hoon, who held intensive negotiations in Washington with US Trade Representative Susan Schwab.
Early Saturday in Washington, Schwab confirmed the deal.
"Korean beef importers and US exporters have reached a commercial understanding that only US beef from cattle under 30 months of age will be shipped to Korea, as a transitional measure, to improve Korean consumer confidence," she said.
The US government has agreed to operate an age verification system for the exports, known as a quality system assessment (QSA), said Kim, the trade minister. Older cattle are seen as potentially more at risk of the disease.
"The QSA for South Korea will last until consumer confidence is restored, without a specific time-frame being set," he said, stressing any products that had not gone through the programme would be shipped back immediately.
Seoul would also be allowed to inspect US beef processing plants that would be banned from exporting products following two violations of the new rules.
President Lee Myung-Bak, who took office in February, has faced a growing crisis over his government's agreement in April to resume the beef imports to clear the way for approval of a wider free trade deal.
South Korea was once the third largest market for US beef, with imports worth 850 million US dollars a year until they were suspended in 2003 after a US case of mad cow disease.
US Congress members have said it will be impossible to ratify the wider trade deal until the beef market is opened up.
But Koreans angry at the supposed health risks, or with the new conservative government's general record, have pushed Lee's popularity ratings below 20 per cent.
He replaced almost all his top aides on Friday to give his government a fresh start and is expected to announce a partial Cabinet reshuffle next week.
The pact to resume imports has not yet gone into force because of the protests, even though both governments say the meat is safe.
A coalition of protest groups said it would continue a candlelight rally in Seoul over the weekend, dismissing the deal as insufficient.
It was unclear how much support they would get. Some 100,000 people packed central Seoul in a June 10 protest, but rallies since then have been far smaller.
The US beef industry offered Friday to meet South Korean concerns and proposed to limit exports to products from cattle less than 30 months old "as a transitional measure," while saying US beef is safe regardless of age.
The OIE (World Organisation for Animal Health) deemed US beef safe in May 2007.
- AFP/vm/ir
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