Just three months after going back on sale here despite massive protests, US beef imports in September accounted for nearly half of the total value of the meat brought in, a report said Sunday.
The Agro-Fisheries Trade Corporation statistics, issued by Yonhap news agency, said South Korea imported 43.98 million dollars of US beef, 43 percent of the total value of beef imports in September. In terms of tonnage, US beef accounted for 35 percent of the total in September, with 7,030 tons shipped to South Korea, the figures said.
South Korea was once the world's third-largest market for US beef, with imports worth 850 million dollars per year until they were suspended in 2003 after a US case of mad cow disease. Seoul decided in April to resume imports of almost all cuts of US beef, sparking months of massive street protests over supposed health concerns.