SEOUL, April 23 (UPI) -- South Koreans can enjoy U.S. beef again after Seoul, in the wake of a free trade deal, finally lifted its years-long ban on importing the meat.
A shipment of U.S. beef arrived in South Korea Monday, ending a three-year ban prompted by fears of mad cow disease, Seoul's Agriculture Ministry said.
The 6.4 tons, or 14,100 pounds, of meat from Kansas will undergo close quarantine inspections, including X-rays, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said. The beef would be distributed after about a week of inspections.
South Korea, previously the No. 3 export market for U.S. beef, had banned American beef imports since the end of 2003 after a case of mad cow disease was discovered in the United States. The United States supplied 200,000 tons of beef to South Korea in 2003, accounting for 68 percent of its imports of the meat, according to the ministry.
The lifting of the ban came a just a few weeks after South Korea and the United States reached an agreement earlier this month on tearing down trade barriers between the two countries.
