US beef exports set to return
29/05/2008
The new government in South Korea is poised to lift the ban on US beef exports to the Asian country.
Agriculture minister, Chung Woon Chun, has told a Korean television audience that the market for US beef will officially open at the start of June, probably on Tuesday, June 3.
Exports of beef from the US were banned in Korea in October 2007 after specified risk materials—in this case bits of vertebral column— were found in shipments.
Opponents of US beef, including the main opposition parties and the Korean Federation of Trade Unions, have vowed to take “every possible measure” as they continue their campaign to derail the agreement. More than 7,000 people took part in the latest vigil after the minister’s announcement, and the leader of the main opposition United Democratic Party, Son Hak-gyu, told a Korean news agency: “If the government and the ruling party (the Grand National Party) ignore this warning, we will be forced to come up with a critical decision.”
However, the president of the US Meat Exports Federation (USMEF), Philip Seng, reacted to the news by saying: “We look forward to supplying high-quality, wholesome US beef to South Korea, but this is a volatile situation that changes day by day. We are monitoring events in Korea very closely. We were the preferred supplier of beef for Korean cuisine. Our exports are complementary to the South Korean domestic industry. We understand the products and specifications needed.”
He said the US industry wanted to win back the trust of consumers in South Korean and pointed out that, after reaching agreement with the US in principle on May 15, South Korea sent inspection teams to audit US beef plants—facilities that were on a list of plants approved to export beef to Korea prior to the suspension of trade last year.
USMEF’s vice-president for information services, Jim Herlihy, told leatherbiz.com that the reasons for continued opposition to US beef in Korea were complex, but he pointed out that the new government has only been in office since early April and that this is one of the first big decisions of a new president, Kang Jae-seop, who still faces stiff opposition.
At the same time, Mr Herlihy said his organisation had received reports of Korean consumers receiving inaccurate information about US beef. He explained: “There are statements about concerns regarding the safety of US beef, but these usually are accompanied by incorrect statements asserting that people in the US do not eat our own beef. Quite the opposite is true.”
“The U.S. industry wants to win back the trust of South Korean consumers,” said Seng. “U.S. beef exports are accepted by Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Mexico and the European Union. We trust that the facts and sound science will win over Korean public opinion. U.S. beef is safe.”
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