South Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-soo called for strict quarantine inspections of U.S. beef during a meeting with ministers Monday.
"We have to take sufficient quarantine inspection measures ahead of U.S. beef imports, reflecting the results of the latest talks in Washington," Han said during the meeting. "Our trade officials did their best. I hope public concerns will be fully resolved."
In the face of nationwide protests against the April 18 beef import deal, Seoul and Washington held an extra round of talks in Washington last week during which the allies agreed to ban shipments of beef from cattle older than 30 months to South Korea. Washington also agreed not to export beef parts considered most susceptible to mad cow disease such as heads and spinal cords.
Although thousands of citizens continued their street protests over the weekend demanding a complete renegotiation of the April 18 accord, recent polls have shown that a majority approves of the new agreement.
American beef has been the biggest political crisis for President Lee Myung-bak since he took office four months ago, with his approval ratings falling below 20 percent. Lee's Cabinet members, led by Prime Minister Han, tendered their resignations en masse owing to the beef row.