After 5 years, Shinsegae set to resume sale of U.S beef

SEOUL, March 27 (Yonhap) -- Shinsegae Co., South Korea's second-largest retailer,
will resume the sale of U.S. beef early next month after five years of keeping it
off the shelves, industry sources said Friday.
Shinsegae stopped selling U.S. beef in December 2003 when a case of mad cow
disease was confirmed in Washington State, leading to an import ban. The ban was
lifted last June but a lingering stigma has made retailers wary of stocking the
meat.
Hyundai Department Store Co., the third-largest department store chain, is
weighing resuming sales but has yet to set a date, the sources said.
South Korea's largest department store chain, Lotte Department Store, has said it
will not sell U.S. beef any time in the near future.
South Korea first banned imports of U.S. beef in December 2003. The country
resumed imports of the meat in October 2006 but then suspended quarantine
inspections after banned backbones were detected in a shipment in October 2007.
Seoul and Washington signed a new import deal in April of last year. Huge street
protests against the move prompted the administrations to hold additional talks,
in which they agreed to limit imports to meat from cattle under 30 months old --
seen as less vulnerable to mad cow disease.
The nation's top three discount stores -- E-mart, Homeplus and Lottemart --
resumed sales of U.S beef at the end of November last year to meet growing demand
for the cheaper meat amid a deepening economic recession.
ksnam@yna.co.kr
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