South Korea said Monday that talks with the United States on the resumption of beef imports will be held as originally planned, just hours after announcing a temporary halt of the negotiations, Yonhap news agency reported.
South Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon was planning to return to Seoul via New York after announcing a temporary halt of the negotiations without any breakthrough a day early. But Kim will get back to Washington to continue negotiations with US Trade Representative Susan Schwab as originally scheduled, Yonhap quoted the ministry as saying.
During the two-day talks with Schwab in Washington that ran till Saturday, Kim proposed that US exporters voluntarily refrain from shipping beef from cattle older than 30 months to South Korea, the report said.
Cattle older than 30 months are believed to be more susceptible to mad cow disease.
South Korea banned US imports in 2003 after a case of mad cow disease was detected. In April this year, the South Korean government agreed to reopen the nation's market to US beef imports, that triggered a mass protests in Seoul in recent weeks. The protesters demanded that the beef import deal be renegotiated.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has vowed not to allow the import of meat from older cattle, in hope to ease public anger.
Public support for President Lee has dropped by more than half in the four months since he took office. Lee's cabinet offered to resign last week to take responsibility for the government's handling of the beef issue.
(Xinhua News Agency June 16, 2008)
