South Korea Lifts Ban On U.S. Beef

The South Korean government lifted its ban on U.S. beef imports Thursday, and President Lee Myung-bak called on the country to move past the dispute that has paralyzed his government with weeks of tumultuous protests.

The import ban was lifted only after South Korea won extra safeguards for an April deal that placed few restrictions on meat shipments, prompting outrage against Lee by critics who said he made too many concessions to Washington and ignored public health concerns.

Lee, who only took office in February, has replaced his top aides over the mishandling of the beef issue and his entire Cabinet has offered to resign.

The Public Administration Ministry issued a legal notice Thursday morning on the U.S. import agreement, the final administrative step required to allow shipments to resume, said ministry official Chang Su-wan.

Some 5,300 tons of U.S. beef, shipped earlier to South Korea but held in customs storage facilities, will be the first to undergo inspections that could start Thursday afternoon before going on sale, according to the Agriculture Ministry. Fresh U.S. beef shipments were expected to arrive in South Korea in about a month, according to media reports.

Lee, who has been humbled by the protests but recently shown increasing decisiveness in seeking to end the daily street rallies, said Thursday the country should now focus on boosting the economy

his main campaign pledge that helped him win a landslide election victory last year.

"It's time for all of us to pull together our energies on the matter of reviving the economy," Lee told the Cabinet, according to his office. "If this situation continues, the common people will suffer damage."

Under the new agreement, imports to South Korea will be limited to beef from cattle younger than 30 months, believed less susceptible to mad cow disease.

U.S. beef has been banned from South Korea for most of the past four and a half years, after the first case of mad cow disease in the U.S. was discovered in late 2003. Limited imports were briefly allowed last year and then were suspended again when banned materials, such as bones, were discovered in a shipment.

Hundreds of labor union activists launched rallies Thursday near 17 storage facilities across the country, according to the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. Police said they deployed riot units in response.

The demonstrations have dwindled in size since some 80,000 people gathered in central Seoul two weeks ago in the largest recent protest. On Wednesday night, about 5,000 people clashed with riot police in central Seoul after the government announced it would push ahead with the beef imports.

Waving candles and chanting anti-government slogans, protesters tried to move police buses blocking roads to the presidential Blue House. Authorities used water cannons and fire extinguishers to repel the crowds, causing some injuries on both sides.

Police said they arrested about 140 protesters on charges of assaulting riot officers and illegally occupying streets.