AFX European Focus | December 30, 2003
A US delegation arrived here to negotiate the resumption of trade in US beef, officials said with prospects for a deal apparently clouded by a number of ongoing farm and trade-related protests.
Apart from protesting efforts to get South Korea to resume its imports of US beef, activists are also demonstrating over government policy on the bird flu outbreak, which has led to a widening poultry cull, and over an impending free trade agreement with Chile.
A dozen South Korean activists demonstrated with placards opposing US beef imports at Incheon Airport west of Seoul, when the US delegation arrived from Tokyo.
"We do not want your mad cow. Go home with your sick meat," read a leaflet released by the activists.
The US delegation, led by David Hegwood, special counsel to US Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, is scheduled to meet South Korea's Deputy Agriculture Minister Kim Joo-Soo later in the day.
South Korean farmers want Seoul to join Tokyo in rejecting a call from the US for the early lifting of a ban on US beef imports.
South Korea and Japan suspended US beef imports immediately after Veneman said a US cow had tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, in the northwestern state of Washington.
In Tokyo, Japanese officials told the US delegation Japan needs to clarify infection routes for the disease and planned new measures to prevent its spread after the case came to light last week.
The delegation said the US would announce unspecified measures to improve the beef supply system.
But Japan said it needs to confirm details such as when and where the infected cow was born, how it arrived in the US and what happened to animals in the same herd before discussing the lifting of a ban on US imported beef. According to a US government tally, South Korea bought 200,000 tonnes of US beef between January and November this year, making it the third-largest US beef export destination after Japan and Mexico.
Beef contaminated with mad cow disease, if consumed by humans, can cause a variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which has claimed more than 140 lives in Europe.
The delegation's visit comes amid protests by farmers and growing concerns about the outbreak of a bird flu which prompted South Korea to cull more than 2 mln chickens and ducks.
Thousands of farmers clashed with riot police Monday, urging parliament not to ratify a free trade agreement with Chile.
South Korean farmers claim the agreement would drive them out of business by flooding the market with cheaper foreign products.
Trade officials insist further delays may hurt South Korea's exports and external credit standing.AFX European Focus:
