New Govt to Deal With US Beef Issue
SOUTH KOREA - Negotiations between South Korea and the United States to revise the guidelines for imports of American beef will most likely not come to an end within the tenure of the incumbent Roh Moo-hyun administration.
15 January 2008
1 minute read
While the two countries were unable to find a breakthrough over the past three months, the issue is now expected to fall into the hands of the incoming Lee Myung-bak administration, which is set to be inaugurated late next month.
But the future negotiations are unlikely to go smoothly in the coming months with Lee’s transition committee left undecided and the political circle set to go through a major election campaign to form the next-term National Assembly.
Rough Sailing
South Korea shut its doors to American beef in late 2003 after a case of mad cow disease was found in cattle from the United States. It partially reopened its market in 2006, but agreed to accept only boneless meat from cattle under 30 months old, which is regarded as less dangerous.
Last October, the two sides began official talks for the resumption of beef imports at the U.S. request. While Seoul offered to resume imports of all U.S. beef except for some dangerous parts, Washington insisted that there should be no exception.
Source: Korea Times
