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South Korea to get U.S. beef deal to take effect later this month amid public backlashSEOUL, South Korea (AP)--South Korea plans to implement a U.S. beef import agreement later this month despite a public backlash over its alleged failure to guard against bovine spongiform encephalopathy, Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-chun said May 14. Chun told a parliamentary hearing that the government would issue a ministerial notice in about 10 days that would allow the deal to take effect immediately, allowing South Korea to resume full-scale imports of American beef for the first time in more than four years. Restricted imports resumed last year but were put on hold in October after banned parts were found in a shipment. South Korea had been expected to issue the notice in mid-May. But Chung said the government needs more time to prepare, although he rejected calls to delay the measure indefinitely. With public anger over the deal running high, YTN television news speculated the government may be hoping the uproar eases soon. The beef deal has been under heavy scrutiny for weeks because it scrapped nearly all the quarantine restrictions Seoul had imposed to guard against BSE. The April 18 accord was struck just hours before President Lee Myung-bak held his first summit with U.S. President George W. Bush. Opposition parties and other critics claimed the government hastily made concessions to smooth out a key trade row ahead of the meeting. Fueling South Koreans' fears was a current affairs TV show that claimed Koreans are more susceptible than Americans and Europeans to contracting a rare sickness that can result from eating beef tainted with BSE. The government dismissed the claim and made repeated assurances that American beef is safe, holding hours-long live TV debates. But thousands of people have held candlelight vigils, urging the government to scrap the deal. South Korea suspended imports of U.S. beef after the first American case of BSE appeared in December 2003 in a Canadian-born cow in Washington state. 5/19/08 Date: 5/15/08
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