By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter

President Lee Myung-bak allegedly expressed his willingness to hold beef talks with the United States after the April 9 general elections, during his meeting with a leader from the U.S. cattle industry in Seoul late February.

``He (Lee) is also in support of getting beef back into his country, but they have an election scheduled for April 9,'' National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) President Andy Groseta said in an audio clip recorded by the association Feb. 29.

Groseta was invited to Lee's inauguration ceremony Feb. 25.

``He wants to make sure that he can get some of his people, who have the same views that he has, in the National Assembly so that they can open up trade,'' Groseta said.

The U.S. cattle industry leader also cited his private talks with a branch manager of E-Mart in Seoul, saying that he was told that ``about 60 to 70 percent of the (Korean) public really want U.S. beef back on the market.''

The E-Mart manager said he can't wait to get U.S. beef back in their markets, Groseta said. ``Their customers want it and he is anxiously waiting. So I think prospects are very good.''

Groseta said that one of several goals of President Lee was to ``develop more overseas trade and form better relationships with the United States.''

He added: ``Well, I'm truly honored in privilege to be selected to attend the inauguration of president Lee in Korea. It was just an incredible experience once in a lifetime experience."

On April 18 when Korea annouced that it would fully open its beef market to U.S. products, NCBA chief economist Gregg Doud was quoted by CattleNetwork, a farming newspaper based in Missouri, as saying, ``The U.S. beef industry owed a huge debt of gratitude to the President (Lee), his administration and ... for this historic undertaking on the issue of the Korean beef trade.''

Doud said, ``It is thanks to their long-term cooperative efforts that we have such a fantastic agreement to announce today.''

The NCBA will ask the U.S. Congress to consider, support and pass the ``long-awaited U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA)'' as soon as possible, the economist told the newspaper.

kys@koreatimes.co.kr