By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter
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.
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.
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.
Although the beef issue is not a part of the South Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (FTA), signed last June, the United States has publicly said that they will not approve the deal without a full settlement of the problem.
``Let me emphasize one critical point for advancing the FTA approval process: Korea needs to fully reopen its market to U.S. beef,’’ U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez said last week.
The transition team, preparing for the launch of the new conservative administration, discussed the U.S. beef issue intensively earlier this month when it received a report from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Officials from the ministry stressed that the beef issue should be resolved as early as possible since it could jeopardize the ratification of the FTA, according to sources. ``If the FTA is not submitted by April, the ratification could be difficult,’’ an official said.
But the transition team maintained a cautious attitude. ``We have not yet finalized our position on the issue. Discussions are under way,’’ said Kang Seung-kyu, a vice spokesman of the transition team.
South Korea is the third-largest importer of U.S. beef, following Mexico and Canada, even under the current restrictions. But some people argue that the regulations should be fortified to protect the health of the local people.
Domestic politics also cast clouds over the issue. If a political force advocates the full resumption of U.S. beef imports for the sake of FTA ratification, it could backfire ahead of the general elections in April.
``We will not tolerate the full resumption of U.S. beef imports, which will harm people as well as livestock farms,’’ said Nam Ho-gyeong, head of the Hanwoo Association, set up for the promotion of sales of Korean beef cattle.
Under the difficult situation, the incoming Lee administration will have to make a final decision. ``It will be a difficult decision,’’ an official in the transition team said. ``But we know that we cannot just drag our feet forever.’’