South Korea allows in U.S. beef-sources

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

''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, has come under strong pressure to resume imports.

Powerful US lawmakers say 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. Seoul had barred imports after an outbreak mad cow disease in the United States in December 2003.

The United States accounted for 68 per cent of total beef imports by South Korea in 2003.

Customs and quarantine inspectors used X-ray machines to check for bone chips in the latest shipment -- 6.4 tonnes which landed at the main Seoul airport on Monday.

''No bone chips were found during inspection. The imported US beef will be sold to wholesalers next week,'' another source said.

South Korean importers, who have been depending on Australian beef, say they will speed up imports of U.S. meat as Seoul re-opens its market.

One importer plans to receive 300 tonnes of US beef by ship next month.

After the ban on US beef, sales of Australian beef in South Korea jumped from some 64,000 tonnes in 2003 to about 137,000 tonnes in 2006. US beef imports totalled about 200,000 tonnes in 2003, according to the agriculture ministry.

The dispute had infuriated Washington and US cattle producers, who said the beef dispute, although separate from the free trade agreement, could harm that deal.

The US Senate's top lawmaker on international trade had issued a stern letter to South Korea's president, warning that failure to end a row over beef would threaten the new trade pact.

South Korean consumers now pay some of the highest prices in the world for beef, but many have said they are still worried about the safety of the American product.

REUTERS SM VC0855