South Korea's ag minister announced today that the country is expected to decide whether to resume imports of U.S. beef by the end of this week. Officials in the country announced Aug. 2 that they had stopped quarantine inspections of U.S. beef after finding banned animal material in a shipment. That basically keeps the beef out of South Korean stores.
The ministry notes that it received a letter from Washington last week with suggested measures to prevent sending "risky animal parts to the country," the ministry noted in a statement. The ministry says it could ban all U.S. beef imports if Washington does not step up safeguards. U.S. beef can be shipped to the country, but it can't move into the market until officials lift the suspension of quarantine inspections.
If South Korea decides, instead, to ban U.S. beef more than 850 tons of beef in warehouses waiting inspection could be marked return to sender. However, enacting such a ban would put a crimp in the process of both countries signing a sweeping bilateral free trade agreement. U.S. lawmakers have already said they won't approve a free trade deal, which is called the biggest in 15 years, if Seoul's leaders do not completely open the South Korean market to U.S. beef.
Source: Financial Times
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