The United States strongly protested South Korea’s decision not to accept the first shipment of its beef since it lifted a three-year import ban.

Korea's Ministry of Agriculture and Fishery told The Korea Times that it was not an official protest and declined to comment.

In Washington, D.C., U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns was quoted as saying, ``You can’t trade under these circumstances.’’

Johanns said the Korean government has applied a standard the U.S. did not agree to. ``It was a standard that they invented along the way.

They found a small piece of cartilage and rejected the whole shipment, notwithstanding the fact that this is not a threat to anyone.’’

He added that he hopes the U.S. Department of Agriculture can solve the situation and U.S. beef producers can get beef moving into Korea, which the two countries had agreed upon.

Last week the Korean government said it would not allow the first batch of beef shipped from the United States to be sold in the country after a bone fragment was detected in a package.

The detection of a bone fragment in the beef, which arrived at Incheon International Airport last month, is expected to trigger fresh concerns about the safety of U.S. beef.

The U.S. shipped 8.9 tons of beef in about 720 separate packages, the first shipment since the lifting of a three-year ban on U.S. beef following a case of mad cow disease there.

At a news briefing, the National Veterinary Research & Quarantine Service (NVRQS) said it has asked the government to destroy the beef or send it back to the U.S.

A ranking NVRQS official said the U.S. meat processing center that shipped the beef with a bone fragment will be barred from exporting to South Korea, reducing the number of export eligible plants from 36 to 35.

Last Thursday another shipment of U.S. beef, totaling 3.6 tons, arrived in Korea by airfreight.

The Korean paper industry Thursday denied a claim made in the United States that it is unfairly receiving state subsidies and exporting its products at a low price.

Officials said that their products are sold in the U.S. at higher prices than in Korea, after NewPage Corporation, a leading paper manufacturer in the U.S., filed a complaint last month to the Department of Commerce, which decided to launch an anti-dumping and countervailing investigation into Korean, Chinese and Indonesian ``coated wood-free paper.’’

The value-added printing paper is generally used for the production of brochures, calendars and albums.

Seven Korean paper firms are being targeted by the investigation _ Hansol, EN Paper, Kyesung, Hongwon, Hankuk, Moorim and Namhan.

Contrary to the U.S. claim, the price of Korean papers sold in the U.S. is higher than those marketed in the country, said an official with Moorim Paper, which is monitoring the affair. ``Thus, U.S. anti-dumping measures are not applicable to Korea.’’

Unlike China and Indonesia which export their papers to the U.S. at a low price, Korea has priced its papers in the U.S. at a high level over the years due to weak domestic spending.

Korean papers were also caught in the middle of heavy competition amid low-priced Chinese products coming into the U.S.

The official believes that the U.S. has included Korea along with other Asian rivals in this antidumping matter for several reasons _ Korea is one of Asia’s big exporters to the U.S., and it would seem unfair just to investigate two Asian countries.

Additionally, since NewPage is losing its competitive edge in the U.S. market against the rising forces of Asian paper manufacturers, the company is trying to dump its low market share blame on them.

Last year, Korea shipped some 378,000 tons of writing and printing paper to the U.S., recording about $315 million in sales last year.

Sales of Korean paper reached $181 million in the first six months of this year.

Korean paper makes up the largest Asian share of total U.S. paper imports, accounting for about 26 percent, followed by China with 14 percent and Indonesia with 3 percent, according to the Trade Ministry in Seoul.

The country has been seeing its paper sales in the U.S. steadily rising since 2003.

Regarding the U.S. countervailing drive, industry officials said the Korean paper industry does not either receive special treatment or special subsidies as the U.S. claims.

``Like any other industry, when we do ask for government support, its a loan,’’ said the Moorim official. ``The U.S. countervailing probe on Korean papers is a direct challenge against Korea’s state policy.’’

He said the domestic paper industry will comply with the investigation in coordination with the Trade Ministry, while continuing to express Korea’s stance on the matter to the U.S.

Under the World Trade Organization regulations, the Department of Commerce has 18 months to decide whether to levy duties on Asian companies for alleged damages caused to the U.S. firm.

Robin Sheen
Staff Reporter

After being slammed for a massive battery recall disaster this year, Sony has recalled up to 1 million digital cameras worldwide, even though the malfunction is not likely to appear in non-tropical regions like Korea.

Sony Korea said Monday that eight of its Cyber-shot digital camera models might not work in warm and humid areas. The cameras may have trouble taking photos, and pictures may be distorted on the display screen, it said.

The firm’s Korean branch said on its Web site that it will repair any affected cameras free of charge, even though such a malfunction has never been reported in South Korea.

``The camera malfunction was only reported in hot and humid areas,’’ Sony Korea’s spokesman Park Jung-hoon said. ``But we have become more active in responding to such issues since the battery accident happened,’’ he said, citing the disastrous laptop battery recall case, which is estimated to cost the firm $440 million this year.

The affected cameras were manufactured between September 2003 and January 2005. The models are DSC-T1, DSC-T11, DSC-T3, DSC-T33, DSC-U40, DSC-U50, DSC-F88 and DSC-M1.

The company estimates about 4,000 of the 1 million units sold could need repairs. Sony Korea didn’t say how many of them were sold in South Korea.

Sony’s net profit for the July to September quarter fell by 95 percent to $14 million from $240 million a year ago. The annual profit is expected to constitute a mere 0.6 percent of total revenue, compared to 2.5 percent last year, according to LG Economic Research Institute.

As the woes continue, rumors have again arisen in South Korea that Samsung Electronics, which is Sony’s main rival in the consumer electronics sector, may take over the troubled Japanese firm within a few years.

However, Sony’s bold decision to recall the cameras contrasts with trends among Korean companies, which consider product recalls as a big disgrace.

Samsung last year was blamed for hiding repairs to washing machines after they were reported to catch fire while operating.

The company ordered its service shops to replace an electric condenser built into about 400,000 washing machines, but it never officially announced the replacement policy to consumers. Later the company explained that it was a typical after-purchase service and was not a recall of the products.

Robin Sheen
Staff Reporter