SEOUL - South Korea
and the United States had failed to bridge the gap
over quarantine inspection standards for imported
beef despite a compromise offered by Seoul, the
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said on
Friday.
Negotiators from the two sides
held a technical consultation meeting on Wednesday
and Thursday to discuss South Korea's quarantine
standards, which have effectively prevented
American beef from being sold in the country.
"Our position on maintaining zero
tolerance in terms of not allowing any bones or
bone fragments into the country remains
unchanged and we've explained
this to our counterparts," said Lee Sang-kil,
director general at the ministry's livestock
bureau. He said Seoul also said it will continue
to conduct x-ray screenings of all shipments
entering the country to check for bones.
South Korea had been the third-largest
importer of American beef before it imposed a ban
in December 2003 following a reported case of mad
cow disease in the country. Seoul agreed in
January 2006 to allow a partial resumption of
imports. Under the pact, only de-boned beef from
cattle aged 30 months or younger could be sold in
the country.
The official, however, said
South Korea had offered not to reject entire
shipments just because one or two individual
packages contained bone fragments.
US meat
processing plants have sent three separate
shipments of beef totaling 22.3 tons since late
October. None have reached the market because bone
fragments were found.
"We made the offer
because it was reasonable and there had been a
request made by Washington in the past," the
official said. If the US accepted the proposal it
would have effectively allowed American beef into
the country, since out of the more than 700
packages in the three shipments, less than 1%
contained fragments.
He explained that the
US rejection of the offer was due to their
objections to South Korea conducting complete
screenings of all American beef, and Washington's
claims that bones that are not classified as
specified risk materials (SRMs) should be bought
and sold on the open market. SRMs refer to brains,
head bones, spinal cord marrow, backbones and
intestine, the parts which are most likely to
transmit mad cow disease to humans.
Lee
then said the US side made a counter-proposal
calling on South Korea to adopt a sample testing
regime for American beef, and allow companies from
the two countries that sell and buy the beef to
work out their own commercial arrangements that
would set standards and penalties if bone
fragments are found.
"This proposal was
not acceptable to us since it could hurt South
Korea's sovereign right to carry out quarantine
inspections it believes to be necessary," the
official said.
Lee added that no date has
been set for the next round of the technical
consultation meeting.
The official said
that negotiators did not touch on setting new
standards for the size of bone fragments that
would be allowed into the country.
The
director general said the fundamental difference
between the two countries lay in divergent views
on looking at non-SRM-related bones and bone
fragments.
South Korea maintains that
bones could pose health problems, while the US
insists that they pose no threat. Experts around
the world are divided on the issue, with the World
Organization for Animal Health, better known as
the OIE, expected to make recommendations on this
issue within the year.
The United States
started an internal review of this matter last
October and will submit its findings to the OIE's
expert panel before the end of March. The
international panel is then expected to share this
information with member countries, including South
Korea, before making its recommendations.
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