South Korea and the United States failed to narrow differences in talks on expanding U.S. beef imports, an official at the agriculture ministry said on Friday, which will likely add heat to simmering trade disputes.
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea and the United States failed to narrow differences in talks on expanding U.S. beef imports, an official at the agriculture ministry said on Friday, which will likely add heat to simmering trade disputes.
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The two will hold further talks on opening a South Korean beef market once worth $850 million a year to the U.S. beef industry, the official said.
"We cannot decide everything in just one meeting," the official said at the end of the two-day session in Seoul.
Lawmakers have said they may not approve a sweeping bilateral free trade pact the two countries struck earlier this year if South Korea, once the third-largest overseas market for U.S. beef, does not allow in more American beef imports.
At present, South Korea, which banned all imports in 2003 following an outbreak of mad cow disease in the United States, allows only imports of boneless U.S. beef from cattle younger than 30 months.
U.S. beef returned to South Korean store shelves earlier this year and was given a warm reception by consumers who queued to buy the product that typically sells for less than half the price of similar cuts of Korean beef.
Last week, however, South Korea temporarily halted imports after finding banned spinal material in a shipment.
The United States has said its product is safe.
In May, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), which sets guidelines for animal health and meat safety, gave the United States a "controlled risk" status for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease.
The OIE says deboned beef from cattle under 30 months of age is safe, and with appropriate precautions in a controlled risk country, beef from older animals and bone-in meat can be consumed safely as well.
