ND Department of Agriculture Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE APRIL 18, 2008

JOHNSON WELCOMES REOPENING OF KOREAN MARKET TO U.S. BEEF

BISMARCK – Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson says the reopening of the South Korean market to U.S. beef is good news for North Dakota.

“South Korea was our number three customer before they closed their markets to us in 2003,” Johnson said Friday. “During the recent North Dakota trade mission to South Korea, we learned that Koreans still want U.S. beef, preferring it to the product from other countries. I believe we now stand to recapture our market share.”

Johnson, who is in Sacramento, CA, meeting with U.S., Canadian and Mexican agriculture officials at the Tri-National Working Group on Harmonization, said he and other North Dakota officials pressed the Koreans on the beef issue, during the March 14-21 trade mission.

“The Koreans were well aware that as long as their U.S. beef import ban was in effect, there was not much chance Congress would pass the U.S.-South Korea free trade agreement – something they want very much,” Johnson said. “It was with that in mind, I think, that they are fully reopening their market to U.S. beef in accordance with World Animal Health Organization guidelines.”

Johnson said ratification of the free trade agreement will also benefit North Dakota by ending high Korean tariffs on agricultural imports, including soybeans and canola products.

“North Dakota is the nation’s number one canola producer and a leading producer of identity-preserved soybeans, preferred by the South Koreans,” he said. “I believe that we can also become South Korea’s leading supplier of these commodities and products.”   

South Korean markets for U.S. beef imports were closed in late 2003 after a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), was detected in the U.S. The market was briefly and partially reopened in 2006, but has been completely closed since last October. The agreement to reopen the beef market, announced in Seoul today, goes into effect in the middle of May.

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MEDIA: For more information, please call Ted Quanrud at (701) 328-2233 or tquanrud@nd.gov or Patrice Lahlum at (701) 239-7210 or plahlum@nd.gov.