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South Korea has suspended quarantine inspections of U.S. beef pending a full investigation into two mislabeled shipments, the government said Monday.

The two shipments, containing 66.4 tons of American beef, are being sent back because they were processed for the U.S. market -- not the South Korean market -- and did not meet standards set by the export verification (EV) standards agreed upon by Seoul and Washington last year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said.

The EV program outlines procedures that meat U.S. processors must follow when exporting beef to South Korea.

"The United States notified Seoul over the weekend that two shipments of beef were not meant for export, but were processed for domestic consumption," said Kim Chang-seob, chief veterinary officer at the ministry said. He said Richard Raymond, the undersecretary for food safety at the U.S. Agriculture Department, sent a letter notifying Seoul of Washington's findings.

He said the U.S. government requested that shipments be sent back, and said a probe will be carried out to determine how the wrong meat was sent to South Korea.

Kim, who said "strange bar codes" were found on the labeling form of the two shipments, stressed that until a satisfactory answer is received, Seoul will not allow any American beef into the market.

"Of the 34 shipments totaling 227 tons that arrived in the country since mid April, 12 have been released on the market, but the remaining 20 shipments amounting to 156 tons will be held in quarantine until the cause of the confusion is resolved," the official said.

After banning all U.S. beef in late 2003, Seoul agreed in January 2006 to import beef from cattle under 30 months old. It maintains a ban on bone-in beef like ribs.

He also said that four meat processing facilities belonging to Cargill Inc. and Tyson Foods Inc. will be barred from exporting beef to South Korea for the time being.

Cargill sent 15.2 tons of beef containing two boxes filled with chuck short ribs, while Tyson shipped 51.2 tons of meat that should have been sold in the U.S. The former arrived by ship on May 25, and the latter reached Busan the next day.

"Depending on the outcome of the ongoing investigations, serious questions could be raised about the overall procedures used by the United States to export its beef," the official said.

He said local investigators are looking at a local importer of the two shipments to see if it was aware that the shipments were not meant for export.

"In the past, local importers sometimes took illegal steps to import beef because of high domestic demand," the official said.

The latest discovery comes at a time when Washington is urging Seoul to rewrite its beef import standards. The U.S. wants South Korea to lift the current ban on bone-in beef, like ribs, that accounted for roughly 60 percent its exports in 2006.

A senior South Korean official said last month that if there are no further unforeseen developments blocking smooth negotiations, a new import standard could be reached in September.

Washington said that it will link the proposed free trade agreement with Seoul's stance on beef imports. The two sides agreed to a open trade pact on April 2. It has to be ratified by lawmakers from both countries before it goes into effect.
SEOUL, June 4 (Yonhap News)