By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter

President Lee Myung-bak will conduct a reshuffle of Cabinet ministers and presidential secretaries after the administration settles the beef issue with the United States, a Cheong Wa Dae spokesman said Thursday.

Asked about the timing of the planned reshuffle of key government posts, spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said, ``The point is that we should resolve the beef row first.''

The President's chief of staff Yu Woo-ik and all seven senior secretaries offered to resign last Friday to take responsibilities for rising public protests against the U.S. beef import deal. Prime Minister Han Seung-soo and all of 14 Cabinet ministers followed suit.

The spokesman hinted that the presidential office will delay the reshuffle until after Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon returns home after ending a trip to the United States. The minister leaves for Washington today for so-called additional talks on the beef issue with U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab.

He said it would not be easy for the Korean government to get concessions from the United States. The concession means a possible agreement under which the U.S. government will ask American cattle raisers to refrain from exporting ``older'' beef to Korea for a certain period.

Koreans have called for a ban on imports of U.S. beef from cattle older than 30 months, which is regarded as unsafe-to-eat due to possible risks of mad cow disease.

President Lee is under increasing pressure to accept the people's demand to ``renegotiate'' with Washington to revise the ``Agreed Minutes on beef trade,'' which was signed between the two countries in April.

Protesters have demanded that the government regain ``quarantine sovereignty'' against possible outbreak of mad cow disease and ban imports of specified risk materials (SRMs) via the renegotiations.

kys@koreatimes.co.kr