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But the deal, which came just hours before the planned summit between South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington, is likely to trigger an angry response from farmers and fuel fears of livestock diseases in South Korea already hit by the worst outbreaks of bird flu in four years.
South Korea, previously the third-largest export market for U.S. beef behind Japan and Mexico, banned imports of U.S. beef in late 2003 after mad cow disease was discovered in the United States.
Seoul partially eased the ban in 2006 when it agreed to resume imports on condition the meat was boneless and from cattle younger than 30 months of age, a measure to reduce the risk of the animal disease. Scientific research has shown that tissue from cattle younger than 30 months does not contain agents that can trigger brain-wasting Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.
South Korea suspended imports several times after discovering shipments of banned bone-in beef, and has effectively halted all imports since last October after a package of backbones was again discovered in a shipment.
Under Friday's deal, however, South Korea will resume imports, including bone-in beef, and lift the age restriction, according to the agriculture ministry.
South Korea will allow in bone-in beef from cattle under 30 months as a first step and gradually import beef from cattle older than 30 months, Assistant Agriculture Minister Min Dong-seok told a press conference at the end of week-long negotiations in Seoul. He said the measure complies with the standards of the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health, known by the French acronym OIE.
The OIE rules permit countries with "risked controlled" status to export most beef parts, with the exception of some specified risk materials like skulls and backbones. The United States has said its beef has been certified safe by the OIE.
In return, the United States agreed to ensure that animal protein-based feeds are not given to its cattle, addressing Seoul's concerns that protein-based feed made from cloven-hoofed animals has been cited to cause the fatal brain-wasting disease in humans.
The last-minute beef agreement is expected to boost prospects for a free trade deal as leaders from the two countries are set to get together for a two-day summit beginning Friday.
The beef issue has been a big obstacle to U.S. congressional approval of the trade deal, the biggest since the North American Free Trade Agreement went into force in 1994. Seoul and Washington signed the free trade accord in June last year after 10 months of negotiations, but it is still awaiting ratification by their respective legislative bodies.
U.S. lawmakers have threatened to block the deal unless South Korea fully lifts the ban on U.S. beef imports, while Seoul's rural-based lawmakers are strongly opposing the deal.
The Bush administration has intensified its demand for a full opening of the South's beef market since the inauguration of President Lee, elected on a campaign platform of economy-first policies and stronger ties with the United States.
Ahead of his U.S. trip, Lee vowed to win ratification from the South Korean parliament, saying free deals on tearing down trade barriers are vital to South Korea's export-driven economy.
The South Korean economy, the world's 13th-largest, is heavily dependent on exports. The total volume of its external trade amounts to 70 percent of the country's gross domestic product. The United States is South Korea's third-largest market after China and the European Union.
The American business community in Seoul issued a statement welcoming the beef deal as a move that would lead to ratification by the U.S. Congress. The community is "cautiously optimistic that the U.S. Congress will no longer have a reason to oppose consideration of this historically and commercially significant (free trade) agreement," the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea said.
But farmers and civic activists have responded angrily to the beef agreement, describing it as a "concession" to the United States for Lee's summit with Bush. "Mad cow, mad government!" they shouted in a protest staged in front of a government building.
The protesters said the government has neglected its duty to protect the people from food fears, citing bird flu rapidly spreading in the west part of the country.
In just two weeks South Korea has confirmed 15 cases of the deadly H5N1 strain, raising alarm as the highly virulent avian influenza is spreading at its fastest rate since the country reported its first case in 2003. The fast-spreading outbreak has hit poultry consumption, posing a big threat to farmers already struggling with high animal feed prices, protesters said.
