SEOUL, South Korea — U.S. beef exports to South Korea will only come from cattle less than 30 months old, a news report said Saturday, in a deal made to placate South Korean protesters worried about mad cow disease.
An age-verification system will be set up to ensure only U.S. beef from younger cattle is exported under the agreement reached last week between South Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon and his U.S. counterpart Susan Schwab, Yonhap news agency reported, citing unidentified government officials.
Younger cattle are considered less at risk for mad cow disease.
The deal was made in an effort to halt daily demonstrations in South Korea over the past month that have brought tens of thousands of protesters to the streets and threatened the stability of President Lee Myung-bak’s government.
Weeks of anti-government protests climaxed last week with a candlelight rally that drew some 80,000 people, but the protests have dwindled since as the government began seeking to limit a recent import deal with the United States.
The Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the news report Saturday.
South Korea was to announce details of the latest agreement later Saturday, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Friday.
South Korea was the third-largest overseas market for U.S. beef until it banned imports after a case of mad cow disease was detected in 2003 — the first of three confirmed cases in the United States.
Both countries have said they will not renegotiate an April agreement reopening South Korea’s market to American beef. The April 18 deal allows the U.S. to export beef to the country without any age restrictions.
U.S. beef exporters said they were prepared to limit products to South Korea to those from cattle less than 30-months old, according to a letter posted Friday on the Web site of the U.S. Meat Export Federation, one of three associations representing the U.S. beef industry.
Lee replaced his new chief of staff and seven other senior presidential secretaries Friday in a bid to soothe public outrage over plans to resume U.S. beef imports. The entire Cabinet also has offered to resign over the beef issue, but the president has not yet said which ministers will leave the government.
It was unclear Saturday if the reported deal would satisfy those protesting the resumption of U.S. beef imports.
A coalition of civic groups that has organized the protests said Friday it would keep rallying against Lee and only a complete renegotiation of the April beef deal could resolve the turmoil.
Lee took office in February after a landslide election win on promises he would strengthen ties with the U.S. and reinvigorate the slowing economy. The beef debacle, however, has caused his popularity to plummet.
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