Rethinking Korea-U.S. Trade: The Korea-Canada Beef Import Negotations

The [Korean] government announced in an official communication the day before yesterday that it had come to an agreement with Canada on health standards for beef importation. Canadian beef will make its first appearance on Korean tables after an eight-year hiatus, following the discovery of a case of mad cow disease in May of 2003. While importing Canadian beef under some form has become inevitable — especially following the complaint that Canada filed with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against Korea, this runs counter to the ideas of food safety that Korean citizens have a right to expect.

The import conditions are a marked contrast from those arranged with the United States. Firstly the condition of not importing beef and bones from cows of more than 30 months has been set in stone. In the case of the United States, all beef imports are allowed, though there exists a practice of importing American beef only younger than 30 months as a “provisional step to re-establish trust with the Korean consumer.” Canada on the other hand has allowed Korean inspections of its beef export facilities. In the event of another outbreak of mad cow disease, Canada has assured that it would immediately quarantine its beef exports and submit them to inspection. The Americans, on the other hand, have elected simply to follow set international standards.

The Korea-Canada beef import agreement is in many ways a reaction to Korea getting the short end of the stick in the 2008 beef import accords with the United States, especially considering that the appearances of cases of mad cow have been more concentrated in Canada than in the United States. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forests and Fisheries indicated that “the negotiations with Canada have been planned to include the sanitary conditions of livestock at the international level, with groups representing consumers and producers, as well as experts taking part.” He added that the Korean delegation “took care in representing the views of experts in the formulations of our demands.” This is a far cry from the hasty negotiations held with the United States. The Korean government should start a new round of negotiations on beef imports before the United States decides to revoke its provisional 30 month policy on exports. This should be done, as with the Canadian agreement, under the conditions of “international rationality.”

The outcome of the U.S.-Korea beef import agreements have served as something of a pretext for the resumption of negotiations between Korea and Canada. Because of the government’s failure to properly manage the deal with the United States, Korea has not only faced the danger of mad cow disease, but has had to keep up its imports of U.S. beef even after the controversy. The government is saying that the effect of the Canada agreement on local beef producers will be minimal, but as the competition in this market increases between Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Mexico and now Canada, it is feared that the collateral damage will only grow.