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Korea to strengthen communication with U.S. on agricultural imports: Minister

Published: 07 Aug. 2025, 18:35

Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Song Mi-ryung answers reporters' questions at the government complex in the central city of Sejong on Aug. 7. [YONHAP]

Korea will work to bolster its communication with the United States on sanitary and phytosanitary procedures (SPS) for agricultural imports as part of efforts to improve trade conditions between the two countries, the agriculture minister said Thursday.

“That is why we are newly creating a U.S. desk under the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency (APQA) […] to create a contact point with Washington,” Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Song Mi-ryung said in a regular press briefing.

The Agriculture Ministry will also make efforts to advance its scientific capabilities in risk assessments of fruits, vegetables and other agricultural products from foreign countries, including the United States, she added, unveiling the government's plan to apply AI technology in the SPS.

Song's remarks came after Seoul agreed to improve its SPS for agricultural imports in a trade deal with the Donald Trump administration as the U.S. side raised various issues related to agro-livestock trade between the two countries.

In the deal, which lowered Washington's reciprocal tariff rate on Korean imports to 15 percent from the initially proposed 25 percent, Seoul safeguarded other contentious issues, such as requests to lift its import ban on U.S. beef products from cattle aged 30 months or older and expand rice imports from the United States.

Regarding speculation that Korea may streamline its SPS, Song said the current eight-step procedure cannot be simplified as it is an “international arrangement,” but that Seoul and Washington could speed up the process by communicating better with each other.

For example, the APQA is currently in the second stage of analyzing the potential risks of importing U.S. apples and the sixth stage of such procedures for importing potatoes cultivated in 11 U.S. states.

“We can enhance our communication on such ongoing procedures,” Song told the briefing.

She also explained that Seoul is already set to apply a zero percent tariff on 97.8 percent of 1,591 agricultural products from the United States by 2031 under the countries' FTA.

“What I felt throughout the tariff negotiations with the United States is that in order for a small country like us to survive, we should diversify our export destinations rather than focusing on the U.S., Chinese and Japanese markets as we have done until now,” Song said, noting the pressure on Korea to lift its trade barriers will likely continue in the future.

“We weathered the storm this time […] but we should work to fundamentally bolster the competitiveness of our [agro-livestock] industry, because someday, we may have to lift all of our nontariff trade barriers.”

Yonhap