Seoul Wants to Keep Beef Off FTA Table ( 07/01/31 ) | |||||
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Part | Charger | Kimseungla | date | 07/01/31 | |
A senior official of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said Tuesday that the beef issue between South Korea and the United States will not be handled by the bilateral high-level talks.
The issue about whether to allow import of U.S. beef with ``bone fragments’’ may be settled down through discussions among quarantine experts, a ministry director general told The Korea Times.
``It is no use holding meetings between high-level government officials in connection with the free trade agreement (FTA) talks,’’ he said. The high-ranking officials include trade ministers and chief FTA negotiators.
His remarks came after Wendy Cutler, assistant U.S. Trade Representative and chief U.S. negotiator for an FTA with Korea, told reporters on Monday (local time) in Washington, D.C. that a successful FTA would not be possible unless the beef issue is solved.
Some U.S. media quoted Cutler at her conference-call briefing, as saying, ``Korea understands that the beef issue needs to be (finalized) if the FTA is going to happen.’’
She said, ``I’d hope that when we get back together with Korea, we can find a path forward not only on the boneless issue, but also to look at how we can achieve a full reopening in the following months.’’
The Agriculture and Forestry Ministry official downplayed her remarks, saying, ``Considering her position as a trade negotiator, I believe Cutler has no choice but to say it that way.’’
He said it seemed that Cutler held a press conference in an attempt to placate U.S. ranchers and meat processors to show some results in the sixth round of FTA talks in Seoul last week.
The director general went on to say that the ministry also supports a free trade deal with the U.S. ``However, it is undesirable to connect the beef quarantine issue with the FTA talks.’’
The Cattle Network, a U.S. farming news service, said that Wendy Cutler told reporters that she is hoping to establish a meeting time and agenda to discuss with Korean (diplomacy-related) officials the ongoing beef impasse ``before’’ the seventh round of FTA negotiations in February.
Instead, the ministry official said, quarantine-related talks between the two countries will be held in Seoul next February, adding that Korean quarantine officers have no time to make a business trip to the U.S. due to another outbreak of bird flu here.
Korea rejected the distribution of shipments of U.S. beef with bone fragments in November and December and the U.S. has continued to demand Korea soften quarantine rules.
Quoted by Kim Yon-se KOREA TIMES
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