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Thursday, March 8, 2007
NELSON: SOUTH KOREA TO PARTIALLY RE-OPEN BEEF TRADE

Nebraska's Senator Ben Nelson today announced a significant breakthrough in South Korea's unfair trade practices that target U.S. beef. Korea has promised to resume imports of U.S. beef that does not contain bone fragments. Korea has promised to reject only those individual boxes in a shipment that contain bone fragments, and accept the remainder of the shipment.

Additionally, Premium Protein Products, LLC of Hastings, Nebraska, whose shipments were rejected and de-listed due to a previous shipment containing bone fragments, will be permitted to ship beef to Korea again. Senator Nelson has released the following statement on the agreement: 

"This is a very good first step toward full resumption of beef trade with South Korea. I'm pleased that the Korean government has agreed to make a common-sense compromise and I look forward to working with them to fully resolve this issue. 

"It is critically important that Nebraska's ranchers and feeders are able to send their beef to the South Korean market. I want to make clear that we are not finished with this issue and I will continue to leave all options on the table as I push for total resumption of the beef trade. But in this case, we won't let the perfect be the enemy of the good and I'm pleased that Nebraska beef will soon be back on the shelves in South Korea." 

Since the South Koreans began rejecting U.S. beef shipments last fall, Senator Nelson has spoken to the South Korean Ambassador six times either in person or via phone and has written him five letters in an effort to lift the ban. Senator Nelson also threatened to block Korea's Free Trade Agreement with the U.S. if this issue was not resolved, which was a significant factor in South Korea's action today.

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