South Korea may again ban imports of U.S. beef if tests confirm a suspected mad cow case in the United States reported over the weekend, a South Korean government official said Monday.

"We are keeping close tabs on the latest mad cow report and will take appropriate actions depending on the results of a more detailed test," said Lee Yang-ho, spokesman for the South Korean Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said last Saturday that a cow showed signs of the mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), a fatal disease that causes progressive neurological degeneration in cattle.

Moreover, evidence indicates that humans may acquire Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) - a rare, degenerative, invariably fatal brain disorder - after consuming BSE-contaminated cattle products.

He said that if the second test comes out positive, South Korea and the U.S. will have to renegotiate everything concerning to an earlier agreement reached between the two sides on reopening the local market to U.S. beef in early 2006, hinting Seoul may halt imports of U.S. beef again.

Seoul halted U.S. beef imports in late 2003 because of a confirmed mad cow case in the United States.

Source: Xinhua