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‘US Conspiracy Theory Has No Beef in It’
SOUTH KOREA - Korean government officials were caught off guard on Thursday by a conspiracy theory vented by a senior U.S. government official that some bone fragments were planted in shipments of U.S. beef sent here.``The U.S. beef industry is suspicious where the fragments came from,’’ Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported, quoting U.S. Department of Agriculture Deputy Under Secretary Chuck Lambert.
Brownfield, a U.S. agricultural news service based in Missouri, also reported Lambert’s remarks. In reaction, Seoul officials said that Lambert’s remarks didn’t make sense. ``It’s nonsense,’’ said Lee Yang-ho, spokesman of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
Saying that Lambert aired this conspiracy theory without substantiating evidence, Lee said, ``It is not very diplomatic and shouldn’t be accepted in government-to-government dealings. It can be understood as an act of infringement on Korea’s sovereignty.’’
A total of 11 bone fragments were found in the U.S. beef shipments over the past two weeks and Korea has banned the sale of all the products. Under an agreement, the U.S. is supposed to export only ``boneless’’ beef from cattle aged less than 30 months.
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Source: The Korean Times
