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SEOUL: A senior South Korean ruling party official pressed Monday for an early resumption of US beef imports despite a violent weekend protest against the move due to fears of mad cow disease.
The Grand National Party (GNP) said its leaders would meet cabinet members late Monday to discuss when imports should resume after Seoul secured extra safeguards against the disease.
"We cannot delay any longer. I think that (publishing new rules) should be done this week," its parliamentary leader Hong Jung-Pyo told reporters.
"Public opinion is turning in our favour," he said, citing a newspaper poll showing a majority approved of the new rules, which must be officially gazetted.
Negotiators last week secured the additional US safeguards in hopes of ending weeks of mass protests against the supposed dangers of mad cow disease and the general approach of the new conservative government.
Rallies lately have been far smaller since some 100,000 people packed central Seoul in a peaceful June 10 demonstration.
But an estimated 10,000 staged another protest Saturday night despite the announcement of the safeguards.
Hundreds of the protesters pulled one police bus away from a barricade, smashing its windows, and fights broke out with riot police. Dozens of people were slightly injured, according to police and witnesses.
A protest coalition has dismissed the latest deal as insufficient and vowed to continue demonstrating for a full renegotiation of the imports pact.
"Our negotiators have done their best. I hope public concerns will be resolved," Prime Minister Han Seung-Soo told a cabinet meeting.
The protests sparked a political crisis for new President Lee Myung-Bak, who saw his popularity plummet below 20 percent. On Friday he replaced almost all his top aides in an attempt to make a fresh start.
Yonhap news agency, quoting a presidential source, said he would delay a planned cabinet reshuffle until after parliament starts sitting again. The legislature has been paralysed by an opposition boycott over the beef issue.
"Please make thorough preparations for quarantine inspection before the resumption of beef imports, reflecting the results of additional talks," Han was quoted by his spokesman as telling cabinet members.
In hopes of pushing ahead with a wider free trade deal, Seoul agreed in April to lift its ban on US beef imports.
But massive protests forced it to delay the resumption and to urge Washington to agree not to export beef from cattle aged more than 30 months, which are seen as more susceptible to the disease.
The US government has agreed to run an age verification system for the exports.
An opinion survey quoted in the Sunday edition of JoongAng Ilbo newspaper showed 58 percent wanting the candlelit rallies to stop while 38 percent said they should continue.
Some 51 percent accepted the results of additional talks while 46 percent rejected them. The poll was taken Friday, one day before the new agreement was announced, although the proposal to limit cattle age had been widely discussed. - AFP/ac
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