South Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-soo said Saturday that the result of additional beef talks between South Korea and the United States should pave the way for completely eliminating public fears of mad cow disease.
"Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon did his best to conclude the additional beef trade negotiations with the U.S. The minister and his delegation must be applauded (for the outcome)," said Han during his meeting with cabinet ministers and leaders of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP).
Kim Jong-hoon, who returned early Saturday morning from Washington after the extra beef talks with U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab, said at a news conference that the two sides have agreed to introduce an age verification system to ban exports of U.S. beef from cattle older than 30 months to South Korea.
At the meeting, GNP Chairman Kang Jae-sup echoed the prime minister, saying both countries appeared to have conducted a "perfect" negotiation.
"What the Korean people want is to impose a ban on all beef and specified risk materials (SRM) susceptible to the mad cow disease," said Kang.
"Beef from cattle older than 30 months must not be imported here. SRMs even from cattle younger than 30 months should not be brought into Korea. If the Korean and U.S. governments made a guarantee on these issues, the additional negotiations are believed to have been perfectly carried out," the GNP leader was quoted by the Yonhap news agency as saying.
Source:Xinhua
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