S.Korea to resume US beef imports on June 7

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea will resume U.S. beef imports
on June 7 after it announces a list of approved beef processing
facilities in the United States, an agriculture ministry
official said on Monday.

Only meat processed in facilities deemed by the South
Korean government as safe will be allowed to enter the country.
South Korean inspection teams examined U.S. beef packing and
slaughtering facilities for two weeks this month to make sure
they were following mad cow safety procedures.

South Korea, once the third-largest export market for U.S.
beef, banned imports from the United States in December 2003
after the first case of mad cow disease was reported there.

“We will announce a list of safe facilities a week from

Wednesday. After the announcement, any of the approved
facilities can ship beef to South Korea,” Kim Chang-sub,
director of the ministry’s livestock bureau, told Reuters by
telephone.

If the first cargo of U.S. beef is transported by airplane,
it could arrive in South Korea in a few days, but if it comes
by vessel, it would take about 20 days, another ministry
official said.

The agriculture ministry also affirmed South Korea’s
restrictions on U.S. beef imports, despite protests from U.S.
leaders.

“We will stick to the agreement with Washington in January,
which excludes bone and spinal cords in U.S. beef imports,”
Park Hyun-chool, director-general of the ministry’s livestock
bureau, said on a radio talk show on Monday.

Last week, a group of senators in Washington sent a letter
to South Korea’s ambassador, Lee Tae-sik, calling for South
Korea to accept the full range of U.S. beef and beef products.

Under the agreement made in January, South Korea will allow
only imports of beef from cattle that are less than 30 months
old, and then on the condition that parts it regards as risky,
such as ribs, be removed prior to shipping.

Beef with ribs had made up a hefty portion of the 199,000
tonnes of U.S. meat imported into South Korea in 2003.

The restrictions also call for other bone and materials
Seoul sees as having a higher risk of carrying mad cow disease,
such as spinal cords, to be removed before shipping.

Seoul said in January it would resume importing U.S. beef
in late March, but progress in re-opening the South Korean
market slowed after the third case of the disease was found in
the United States in April.