In a press conference, Kim made public a letter the two countries drew up in their latest talks. On one A4 page, the two countries recognize each other's quarantine sovereignty in accordance with Article 20 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) among WTO members.

Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon speak during a press conference at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul on Tuesday. Kim said that the United States has formally recognized that South Korea has the right to suspend American beef imports if mad cow disease breaks out in the country. /AP

Kim said the two sides “agreed to sign documents clarifying our right to ban imports of American beef if a case of mad cow disease is confirmed in the U.S. and it is deemed to endanger people's health." He added the letter, which was signed by the trade minister of Korea and the U.S. Trade Representative, is legally binding.

Attached are a statement by Prime Minister Han Seung-soo from May 8, in which he said Korea would suspend U.S. beef imports if BSE should occur there, and USTR Ambassador Susan Schwab's statement on May 12, in which she said she accepts and supports Han's statement.

More pertinently, the two sides also agreed to apply U.S. domestic rules on specified risk materials (SRM) which must be removed in the slaughter process to beef exports to Korea as well.

Three extra cattle parts including transverse processes and spinous processes of the cervical, thoracic and lumbar vertebrae are defined as SRMs in the U.S. but were excluded from import health requirements for U.S. beef and beef products in the original beef deal with Korea concluded in April, a deal which caused widespread protests here.

(englishnews@chosun.com )