Agriculture secretary criticizes South Korea for rejecting U.S. beef shipment

By: LIBBY QUAID - Associated Press | Tuesday, November 28, 2006 10:20 PM PST ∞

WASHINGTON -- Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns criticized South Korea for halting beef shipments from a U.S. meatpacker, saying authorities there had "invented" a standard for imports.

"They have applied a standard we did not agree to. It was a standard that they invented along the way," Johanns told reporters Tuesday in Washington.

Cut off by mad cow disease in 2003, American beef shipments had resumed only recently after lengthy negotiations with South Korea.

The country was a major buyer of U.S. beef, purchasing more than $1.2 billion in beef products in the year before the ban, according to the Agriculture Department. Only Japan, with a market once worth $1.4 billion to U.S. producers, was a bigger customer.

Both countries have agreed to accept only boneless beef from the United States because some Asian countries consider bone to carry a greater risk for mad cow disease. That is stricter than international rules, which deem many bone-in cuts of beef to be safe.

Last week, South Korea suspended imports from Creekstone Farms Premium Beef because authorities said they found a bone fragment in boneless beef. Creekstone raises Black Angus cattle in Kentucky and slaughters them in Arkansas City, Kan.

"They found a small piece of cartilage, rejected the whole shipment, notwithstanding the fact that this is not a threat to anyone," Johanns said. "They acknowledge it's not a threat to anyone.

"And I've got a company -- a very good company, I might add -- who has gone to the expense of shipping product over there with a promise that the market is open, only to find out that the market isn't even close to open," Johanns said.

The shipment was 7 tons of beef, and South Korean officials spent 3 weeks evaluating it, Johanns said.

The first U.S. shipments of beef arrived last month, but the beef has gone through a rigorous quarantine process, and none has arrived on store shelves.

Kim Chang-seob, the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry's chief veterinary officer, said last week he expects U.S. officials to visit for talks about the bone fragment. He said once South Korea's concerns are addressed, imports from the slaughterhouse could resume.

He said shipments from other companies are not affected.

Johanns said: "South Korea has been, until this arose, pretty straightforward to deal with, but you can't trade under these circumstances.

"And so my hope is that we can get this solved and we can get beef moving into Korea like we agreed upon," he said.

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