By Kim Hyun-cheol
Staff Reporter

South Korea and the United States agreed on the resumption of U.S. beef imports Friday, removing a major hurdle to the U.S. ratification of the Seoul-Washington free trade agreement (FTA).

The agreement, which was announced hours before President Lee Myung-bak's summit with U.S. President George W. Bush at Camp David, encompasses the U.S. `no-restriction' policy on the age of cattle and bone parts in beef by practically offering full access to the Korean market.

The revised sanitary condition of meat imports will be enacted within 20 days. Given quarantine and delivery processes, American beef will be marketed in South Korea again late next month at the earliest.

The Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries plans to announce a package of measure aimed at minimizing the impact of the beef deal on local cattle raisers next week

``Seoul will open its market in two phases,'' Assistant Agriculture Minister Min Dong-seok, head of the South Korean negotiators, said in a briefing with no U.S. negotiators present. ``The decision was made on the basis that the United States was classified as a risk-controlled country by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).''

Bone-in-beef products from cattle slaughtered under 30 months of age will be allowed, while those from animals older than 30 months will be imported later if the United States abides by the intensified rules on animal protein use in cattle recommended by the OIE, Min said.

South Korea suspended U.S. beef imports in 2003 after an outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalitis _ widely known as mad cow disease _ was discovered there. Restricted imports resumed in April last year, but have been on hold since October when a shipment was found to contain animal parts that had been banned over concerns about the disease.

Under the current OIE standards, the United States can export all cattle parts except for some intestine parts called distal ileums and tonsils of cattle slaughtered before reaching 30 months of age.

No additional ban was imposed on byproduct items outside OIE standards, such as other intestine parts or hooves, on the issue of specified risk materials (SRMs). Seoul was initially expected to add some extra banned items to the list.

SRMs reportedly have a higher risk of transmitting the brain-wasting disease to humans. They include brains, skulls, eyes, tongues and spinal cords of animals older than 30 months.

Under the new standards, the United States technically can refuse to revise local cattle feed rules as well. Meat from cattle butchered over 30 months of age will not be imported here in that case, but currently it accounts for only about 10 percent of all exports.

Additionally, American beef imports will not be immediately halted if another case of mad cow disease occurs there unless the results of an epidemiological check break OIE standards.

``It means the agreement was done based on mutual consensus of the U.S. status as a risk-controlled country for mad cow disease,'' Min said.

The negotiator also denied suspicions that the deal was a ``political gift'' during President Lee's visit to the United States, saying: ``I can safely swear that the idea never entered my mind during the talks.''

AMCHAM Korea welcomed the decision, saying Korea had ``taken a very positive step in creating momentum to ratify the historic bilateral free trade agreement.''

``Re-opening the Korean beef market to safe, delicious and affordable American beef will give Korean consumers more choices, as everyone is facing the challenge of rising food prices,'' AMCHAM President Tami Overby said in a statement,

The Korean Peasants League (KPL), one of the biggest local farmers' organizations, however, accused the Lee administration of giving a political gift to promote the passage of the Korea-U.S. FTA.

``This is a serious matter, not just for farmers here. President Lee is abusing the right to health of all the Korean people,'' said Koak Kil-ja, a KPL official.

hckim@koreatimes.co.kr