U.S. government rejects visits by S. Korean lawmakers to American cattle farms

The U.S. government has rejected calls from South Korean lawmakers to allow them to inspect U.S. cattle farms, saying it has "no authority" over private facilities, the lawmakers and documents from the Korean government revealed Tuesday.

The revelation gave South Korean agricultural authorities another reason to maintain the current quarantine rules for American beef imports. Washington has called on Seoul to ease the restrictions.

Some lawmakers also considered legislation to ban beef from any country that has had an outbreak of mad cow disease.

"It is against the basics of trade," Kwon Oh-eul, head of the agriculture committee at the parliament, said in a press meeting.

"The one who intends to buy things is entitled to see them first, but the vendor says he can't show them. When the most basic request isn't met, can Korea accept what the U.S. requests?" he asked.

Korea conditionally resumed imports of American beef in March last year. The import ban was imposed in 2003 after a case of mad cow disease was found in the United States.

As Washington intensified its demand for Korea to fully open its market, a group of Korean ruling and opposition party lawmakers sought to inspect U.S. farms that produce beef products exported to Korea. Their requests made to Mike Johanns, secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, last month were flatly rejected, the lawmakers said and the documents from the Korean embassy in Washington revealed.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has "no authority to ask privately-run livestock facilities to accept a visit by foreign politicians," it was quoted as saying by the embassy about their first inspection request in early December.

To their second request, the U.S. agriculture department "couldn't give any answer as the matter is related to foreigners visiting private facilities and involves many agencies inside the department and ultimately requires a decision by the department minister to take responsibility to decide it," the embassy reported to the lawmakers.

The U.S. department did not directly send a reply to the lawmakers and gave those answers when the embassy asked, Rep. Kwon of the major opposition Grand National Party said.

He said some lawmakers in his committee were considering a bill that only allows South Korea to import beef from countries with no record of mad cow disease, which would automatically disqualify American products.

South Korea requires all American beef to be "de-boned" and to be from cattle less than 30 months old. The rules were part of conditions imposed when Korea agreed to resume American beef imports in March last year.

The first three shipments of U.S. beef were rejected and returned home, as Korean quarantine officials found them to contain bones and have chemical dioxin levels higher than allowed by the World Health Organization.

Washington proposed to hold working-level talks in Seoul this week on easing the rules. But the meeting was canceled as no U.S. officials came.

Korean officials said the U.S. wanted to use the beef matter as a negotiating tool when the free trade talks between the two countries resume in Seoul next week.

Seoul, Jan. 8 (Yonhap News)