The South Korean government has ruled out the possibility of renegotiating the S. Korea-U.S. beef import deal, while pledging to tighten quarantine inspections and beef labeling rules, the Korea Herald reported on Wednesday.
"It is impossible to renegotiate the agreement because it has been formally signed by both countries' representatives and is already in the process of being put into effect," South Korea's top negotiator Min Dong-seok told the local daily.
The South Korean government came under growing pressure from political parties and civic groups to scrap the April 18 agreement to fully open the domestic market to U.S. beef.
Under the agreement, South Korea will import from the United States most cuts from cattle under 30 months old beginning May. Imports of certain cuts from older cattle will be allowed after the United States strengthens control of feed for cattle.
The government said it will ban imports of specified risk materials - brains, eyes, spinal cords, and other organs - which are categorized as being most likely to be infected by bovine spongiform encephalopathy, if they do not carry a label that proves the animal was younger than 30 months when butchered.
Source:Xinhua
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