S. Korea to resume beef talks with Canada in November

SEOUL, Oct. 22 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will reopen negotiations with Canada on beef imports in early November, almost a year after their talks were suspended, the government said Wednesday.

Seoul banned Canadian beef in May 2003 after a case of mad cow disease was
reported in the country. Canada was previously the fourth-biggest exporter of
beef to South Korea, behind the U.S., Australia and New Zealand.
The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said working-level
officials from the two countries will hold technical consultations on beef
imports in Seoul on November 3-4.
"The meeting is being held at the request of Canada," said a ministry official.
The last round of talks were held in Seoul in late November 2007, but both sides
failed to reach an agreement.
Canada has demanded that South Korea lift all restrictions on beef imports after
the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) in May of last year gave Ottawa a
"controlled risk" classification, which technically allows it to export all beef
parts with the exception of certain specified risk materials (SRMs).
SRMs refer to brains, eyes, tonsils and intestine parts which run the highest
risk of transmitting bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, to
humans.
South Korea, meanwhile, lifted its ban on U.S. beef in June after the country
received the controlled risk classification from the OIE.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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