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Seoul: South Korean ruling party lawmakers left on Monday for the United States to seek assurances that it will not export beef from older cattle in hopes of calming a domestic political crisis generated by fears of mad cow disease.
The trip to Washington comes amid South Korean media reports that President Lee Myung-bak's Cabinet could resign on Tuesday because of the dispute over American beef imports and the rallies it has spawned in Seoul.
The Grand National Party delegation of four legislators and one party official will urge the US to promise in writing that it will not export beef from cattle aged 30 months or older, said party spokesman Hwang Cheon-mo.
Older cows are considered at greater risk of mad cow disease, a brain-wasting cattle sickness. South Korea has asked Washington to refrain from exporting meat from older cattle despite an April agreement that allows it.
Seoul's presidential office said on Saturday that US President George W. Bush pledged in a phone conversation with his South Korean counterpart to work out unspecified measures banning the export of the older cattle.
The White House meanwhile said Bush assured Lee that Washington was ready to back US beef exporters as they tried to reach a solution with South Korean importers.
Tens of thousands of South Koreans took to the streets in Seoul over the weekend, demanding the government to scrap or renegotiate the beef import deal. Early on Sunday, protesters fought with police, attacking riot-control buses lined up to barricade streets and block roads leading to the Blue House.
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