South Korea allows in US beef - sources

SEOUL, Apr 27 (Reuters) South Korea will permit the first shipment of US beef into the country for sale since December 2003, easing tensions in a simmering trade dispute, sources at a South Korean beef importer said today.

''The beef has been cleared for sale,'' one source said. The agriculture ministry declined to comment.

South Korea, once the third-largest market for US beef exports, have come under strong pressure to resume imports from powerful US lawmakers who say that rejection could prevent passage of a sweeping bilateral free trade pact struck earlier this month.

South Korea agreed to resume imports last year but rejected all 22 tonnes of beef sent over in three shipments due to small bone chips. It banned the product because of a mad cow outbreak in the United States.

REUTERS DKS RK0800