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A parliamentary committee will hold a hearing next month on a recently struck deal to fully open South Korea's market to U.S. beef amid growing concerns here over mad cow disease and an expected blow to the local cattle industry.

Members of the National Assembly agriculture committee on Tuesday approved a motion to hold a hearing on the Seoul-Washington beef agreement. The beef agreement is a key condition for securing U.S. legislative support for a free trade agreement (FTA) struck in June last year, even though it is not officially part of the FTA.

Hoping for prompt settlement of the FTA, the South Korean government has agreed to open its market to U.S. beef regardless of the age of the cattle the beef comes from, the first such decision in almost five years.

While President Lee Myung-bak's Grand National Party has been supportive of the move, liberal opposition parties have joined forces to nullify the deal, using it as their defense against early ratification of the FTA.

The FTA has yet to be approved by the legislatures of both countries.

Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan admitted Tuesday that the government has been "burdened" to promptly reach a beef deal due to its link to the FTA. He emphasized, however, that import of U.S. beef is critical to the country's trade sector, even without the FTA factor.

"Although the link (between the beef deal and the FTA) may have burdened the government to a certain extent, the import of U.S. beef is crucial for the country's trade environment even without the FTA," Yu said during a parliamentary foreign affairs committee session.

Yu also spurned growing concerns over mad cow disease, emphasizing that the threat can be fully controlled.

"The government agreed to open the market under the judgment that the threat of mad cow disease can be fully controlled by keeping strictly to the standard set up by the international Office of Epizootics," he said.

South Korea's ruling party hopes the current legislature, whose term expires on May 29, will pass the FTA to give impetus to the economic initiatives of the new administration.

The incoming assembly is scheduled to start its first session on the first of June after a final parliamentary session by the outgoing parliament, which convened last week.

Opposition parties, led by the United Democratic Party, however, want to buy more time in settling the FTA issue, citing the need for sufficient scrutiny.

The free trade deal has been billed as the most significant event in South Korea-U.S. relations since the two countries signed their military accord in 1953. Economically, it is expected to boost two-way trade -- already worth $79 billion a year -- by as much as $20 billion in the coming years.

SEOUL, April 29 (Yonhap)