South Korea started importing U.S. beef in February, despite the government's announcement in March that it would delay imports of North American beef.
The Korea Times reported Friday that the government imported U.S. beef worth $20,000 in February, or about 6 tons, a Korea Agro-Fisheries Trade Corp. official said, a figure confirmed by the nation's Customs Service.
The move could undermine confidence in policymakers who had said U.S. beef would be available to Korean consumers only from the end of March or early April.
Under bilateral agreements signed Jan. 13, South Korea decided to resume the import of meat from U.S. cattle, lifting a two-year ban that began Dec. 24, 2003, when the first U.S. case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy was detected.
However, the government announced in March that it would delay U.S. beef imports by several weeks or months because another case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy was detected March 13 in the U.S. state of Alabama.
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