YONHAP NEWS

(2nd LD) U.S. dismisses call for renegotiation of beef deal

   By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, June 3 (Yonhap) -- The top U.S. envoy here on Tuesday ruled out the possibility of renegotiating his country's deal with South Korea on the resumption of U.S. beef imports, snubbing growing public calls for the annulment or revision of the April agreement.

   "We have said many times, we don't see any need for renegotiation of the agreement since it is based on science," Ambassador Alexander Vershbow told reporters after his meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan. "We don't think there is a scientific justification for changing the agreed basis that we worked out in April."
He said that the agreement provides effective measures to ensure the safety of beef exported to South Korea, adding, "I can't deny that we are disappointed" by the continued delays in Seoul's implementation of the deal.

   The Foreign Ministry said Yu asked for the meeting with the ambassador to relay Seoul's measures to cool public anger over the agreement and seek joint diplomatic efforts to deal with the issue.

   Hardly a day has passed here without massive street rallies protesting the beef deal signed on the eve of the Camp David summit between President Lee Myung-bak and his U.S. counterpart, George W. Bush. Demonstrators say the hastily made deal lacks proper measures to stave off the entry of beef carrying mad cow disease.

   In a bid to quell public worries, the government announced earlier in the day that it will suspend imports of beef from older cattle, which are more vulnerable to the disease, for the time being.

   "The government has requested the United States not to export any beef from cattle older than 30 months, which the people are most concerned about," Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-chun said in a nationally televised announcement.

   "We will hold off publication on the implementation of the deal, thus suspending quarantine of U.S. beef, until the U.S. gives an answer to this request," he said.

   The U.S. envoy, however, avoided an direct answer.

   "This is a very complex issue with a lot of technical aspects to it," he said. "There are issues between governments and there are also issues that relate purely to the relationship between exporters and importers."
He emphasized that leading U.S. beef exporters offered an "important step as an effort to help improve confidence on the part of Korean consumers."
He was referring to the exporters' decision to temporarily label beef bound for Korea as being from cattle under or over the age of 30 months.

   "So we think that this is a very positive step which we hope will provide a way forward in what we recognize as a very difficult situation," he said. "We hope that Koreans will begin to learn more about the science and about the facts of American beef, and that this issue can be addressed constructively."
The Foreign Ministry refused to reveal whether the minister formally demanded a renegotiation during his meeting with Vershbow.

   "Minister Yu requested active cooperation by the U.S. so that the issue can be resolved smoothly without causing a trade rift, including U.S. beef dealers' voluntary refraining from exporting beef from cattle aged older than 30 months," the ministry said in an one-page press release on the outcome of the one-hour meeting between the minister and the ambassador.

   Vershbow said he will deliver the request to his government, as well as Washington's position on the matter to South Korea later, it added.

   lcd@yna.co.kr
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