P.M. BRIEFING : S. Korea-U.S. Meeting on Beef Imports Ends Early on Sour Note

Talks between South Korean and U.S. trade officials on opening up South Korea’s beef market broke down today over bitter differences, a Korean government spokesman said.

Delegations of the two countries, headed by Nancy Adams, assistant deputy U.S. trade representative, and Shin Koo Bum, chief of the livestock industry bureau of the Agriculture-Fisheries Ministry, ended a four-hour meeting without reaching any agreement.

The meeting was initially scheduled to last until Friday but was cut short with no prospects of agreement in sight. Some Korean officials said their government will stick to its present stand even if it invites U.S. retaliation.

A spokesman for the ministry said the American side held to its position that there can be no negotiations unless the Korean side was ready to present a beef import liberalization timetable.

The Korean side said it could not give a firm date for full opening of the domestic beef market because of the serious problems it would create for Korean farming households, the spokesman said.