South Korea's trade minister Saturday met with his U.S. counterpart in Washington in an effort to revise the bilateral beef import agreement over fear of mad cow disease.
"We've agreed to meet again tomorrow," South Korea's Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon was quoted as saying after hours of talks with U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab.
Kim told reporters that ``we are trying to produce efficient measures (to address the beef issue)." But it was reported that the two failed to produce tangible results.
Yonhap News quoted a spokesman for Schwab, Sean Spicer, as saying that the meeting should last for at least "a few days." "This is a very important issue, and it may not be resolved in one day. There may be several meetings."
More than a month of street rallies and candlelight vigils over the April deal allowing imports of U.S. beef from all ages of cattle forced all South Korean Cabinet ministers to offer resignations en masse.
South Korean and U.S. officials are reportedly discussing support for voluntary efforts by the U.S. beef industry to label beef packages showing the ages of cattle slaughtered.
