hankyoreh

The South Korean government is again coming under fire for its U.S. beef quarantine measures, including statements that are contradictory to research - in some cases its own.

A shipment of U.S. beef arrived in South Korea on April 23, the first since South Korea rejected three prior shipments for having bone chips, a move which brought strain to trade relations with the U.S. In January last year, the government decided to again allowed imports of U.S. beef, which had been banned since 2003 due to a mad cow disease outbreak in the U.S. However, Korea agreed only to boneless beef from cattle younger than 30 months old, saying this meat would be safe from mad cow disease.

But according to an unreleased 2005 report obtained and made public by Rep. Kang Ki-kab of the Democratic Labor Party, the government said it "cannot rule out the possibility that boneless beef could be contaminated by mad cow disease."

Resuming U.S. beef shipments had been linked indirectly to the U.S. granting South Korea the right to begin free trade talks with it, sources close to the matter say. The trade deal was inked on April 2.

The revealed report was written by the Ministry of Agriculture after the 73rd general session of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). At the OIE meeting in France in May 2005, the South Korean delegation gained agreement for its claim of the possibility of boneless beef contamination from the Japanese and Taiwanese delegations, the report added.

However, the government later called the very same clam groundless when it faced domestic opposition to the restarting of U.S. beef imports.

Responding to the controversy surrounding the revelation of the agricultural ministry document, an official at the ministry's cattle quarantine bureau said, "There were some research reports that certain boneless meat and blood contained mad cow risk, but the OIE has said otherwise. In the 2005 general assembly meeting, the Korean delegation merely said that some research institutes insisted on the possibility of the contamination of the boneless beef.

In addition, regarding the cattle's age at time of slaughter - used to ensure the animal was born after the last known mad cow disease outbreak - the South Korean government has diverged from safety measures set up by Japan, the largest importer of U.S. beef. Korea inspects the teeth of cattle to determine their age. But at the OIE's 74th general assembly held last year, the Japanese government released a statement saying, "Given the circumstance that there is no nationwide system to identify a cattle's age in the U.S., it has no way to effectively seperate cattle older than eight years old deemed risky in being infected by mad cow disease, from others. A cattle's set of teeth cannot be used to determine its age."

But Korean government agreed to import the U.S. beef, saying to the public that a cattle's set of teeth can be used to determine its age.

In the meantime, the April 23 shipment of U.S. beef - 4.5 tons - arrived at the Incheon International Airport at 8:25 a.m. Korean quarantine authorities plan to allow the beef to be sold to retail customers after an inspection, including X-rays, to determine whether the meat is boneless beef from cattle younger than 30 months old and that it meets other requirements. The inspection is expected to take a week.

Even if a bone fragment is found, only that box of beef will be sent back, rather than the entire shipment - as had been the case with the prior three attempted shipments since the beef ban was lifted. This more relaxed quarantine regulation is part of a proposal made by South Korea at high-level agriculture talks with the U.S. in March that was called a tacit compromise by some observers.

Park Sang-pyo, a director of the Solidarity of Veterinarians for National Health, said, "Instead of protecting people's health and safety, the government has tried to represent the interests of the U.S. meat industry. It's time for the government to make efforts to gain people's trust via a thorough scientific inspection of the meat," Park said.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]