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U.S., Korea talks likely delayedSEOUL (AP)--The U.S. is likely to delay talks with South Korea on a dispute over Seoul's rejection of U.S. beef shipments, an official said Jan. 7, as a survey showed more than a third of South Korean consumers associate U.S. beef with bovine spongiform encephalopathy. The two sides had planned to meet in Seoul Jan. 8 and 9 to discuss South Korea's decision to turn back all three recent shipments of U.S. beef citing they contained banned bone fragments that Seoul fears could potentially harbor the disease. The U.S., however, failed to send a list of its delegation to the talks as of Jan. 7, and the meeting is unlikely to take place as scheduled, said Lee Sang-kil, a director-general of South Korea's Agriculture Ministry. "I think they expect little progress from the talks," Lee said. "I think it's going to be delayed." South Korea, formerly the third-largest foreign market for U.S. beef, shut its doors to U.S. beef imports in December 2003 after the first reported U.S. case of the disease. It agreed to resume imports last year on a limited basis--boneless meat only from cattle younger than 30 months old--on the grounds that some material inside bones could be dangerous to consume and the younger animals are safe from the disease. Imports resumed in October, but U.S. beef has never reached South Korean consumers because quarantine authorities rejected all shipments that have arrived so far for containing tiny bone fragments. They ranged in length from 3 millimeters to 22 millimeters. U.S. officials had been expected to ask South Korea to lower its quarantine standards in next week's talks. South Korea is firm in its position that bone is bone even if it is a tiny fragment. Consumer sentiment in South Korea about U.S. beef has been negative because of BSE concerns. A recent survey of 1,213 housewives showed that 35 percent of them associate U.S. beef with the disease, with about 70 percent responding negatively to a question if they have intentions to buy U.S. beef, according to the Yonhap news agency. The ministry-commissioned survey was conducted in November-December, but officials in charge of the poll were not available for comment Jan. 7. In a similar survey in July, more than 70 percent said they would not buy U.S. beef even if imports resumed. Scientists believe BSE spreads when farmers feed cattle recycled meat and bones from infected animals. The cattle disease is also believed to be linked to the rare but fatal variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease found in humans. 13 Date: 1/9/07
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