Third Mad Cow Disease in US
The US Ministry of Agriculture released on March 13 that a suspected case of mad cow disease has turned out positive. Seoul banned U.S. beef imports following the discovery of a case of mad cow disease in the US in late 2003, but it decided to lift the restrictions this year.
An expert says that since then the matter of US beef imports has been a target of feud, it is clear that this statement will raise doubts about the security of US beef. In addition, it will negatively impact the decisions of major Asian beef importing countries: Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong. In particular, although Korea had decided to import US beef before and after the end of March, Korea is now in a dilemma whether or not to continue as scheduled now that the report was released.
The Korean government forecasts that since negative responses will come out regarding US beef imports in the nation, the government says it will take steps to foster much stronger investigation on imported beef and delay the import date. On March 14, the Korean Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry hinted that the import date could be postponed because of beef import procedures in the US. Originally, the plan was to approve the procedure on March 12, but it has been put off until the 19th. An official from the ministry said that because mad cow disease occurred again in the US, Korea cannot avoid concentrating on more thorough local investigations.
Yet, although the date for importing beef is put off for a while, it doesn’t mean that the import principles can be cancelled. In this situation the security of US beef is considered unstable and the Korean government is now facing a dilemma.
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 / 입력시간: 2006. 03.15. 11:23
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