Pressure grows for South Korea to strike US beef deal

South Korea continues to resist US pressure to fully reopen its market to American beef, on the eve of President Lee Myung-bak's first official visit to Washington, and just months before President George W. Bush leaves office.

South Korean media report Seoul, which is in talks with US negotiators, may be willing to allow bone-in beef from the U-S, but not all beef varieties from animals of all ages.

US Deputy Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner argues, as Korea's new president prepares to visit the United States, that's not good enough in a market shut to the US almost since a 2003 mad cow case here, that continues to benefit Australia.