Beef Safety Measures to Be Released

Korea and the United States reached a tentative agreement on guaranteeing the safety of American beef to be exported to Korea on Thursday (local time) at the last round of ministerial-level talks in Washington.

The government plans to announce the outcomes of the negotiation Saturday and begin to draw up follow-up measures.

The Foreign Ministry`s Trade Negotiation Headquarters said in a statement that Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon and U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab wrapped up their weeklong discussions on the trade of American beef on Thursday with mutually satisfactory results.

The fifth round of talks between Kim and his counterpart Schwab was held at the USTR building from 8:40 a.m. till 6:40 p.m. Thursday. The two top negotiators spent nearly 10 hours to tackle technical issues involving the resumption of U.S. beef imports to Korea.

"They have discussed the technical issues and exchanged views on a path leading to the reopening of the Korean beef market, and help restore Korean consumer confidence in U.S. beef," said USTR spokeswoman Gretchen Hamel. "We have made good progress this week and are close to reaching a mutually agreeable path forward.”

Along with the measures to prevent American beef from cattle older than 30 months from entering Korea, the two sides also reportedly discussed the possibility of banning the export of specified risk materials (SRMs) from cattle younger than 30 months as well.

According to a senior government official, the outcomes of the negotiation, which address the Korean public’s concern, such as the importation of SRMs from younger cattle, will likely live up to the expectations of most Koreans.

Trade Minister Kim will return to Korea early Saturday morning. Prime Minister Han Seung-soo and related ministers, including Strategy and Finance Minister Kang Man-soo, Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan, Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-chun, Welfare Minister Kim Soung-yee and Trade Minister Kim will, hold a meeting on the outcomes of the bilateral beef trade talks on Saturday morning before making a public announcement.

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