The United States is intensifying pressure on Japan and South Korea to lift restrictions on US beef, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns has said in an interview, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.

The United States has been working to convince importers that U.S. beef is safe since December 2003, when the country's first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, was found, and with a new favorable safety rating from an international agency, the U.S. beef industry is hoping foreign buyers will listen, said the report.

The World Organization for Animal Health, known as OIE, the acronym of its French name, voted May 15 to grant the U.S. a favorable "controlled" risk status, according to the report.

The OIE is recognized as a standard-setting body by the World Trade Organization, and its approval, U.S. industry representatives said, should be more than enough to convince importers.

South Korea said Monday it will hold talks with the United States about further easing its restrictions on imports of American beef.

It will also conduct a risk assessment of U.S. beef in a possible step toward resuming importation of meat attached to bone, which is currently banned, Minister of Finance and Economy Kwon O-kyu was quoted as saying.

Japan, however, said it has no immediate plans to relax its strict import conditions.

The two countries used to import about 2 billion dollars in beef combined from the United States and, with Mexico, were among the three largest markets for U.S. beef, the report said.

Mad cow disease is a fatal, degenerative disease affecting the central nervous system of cattle. Humans can contract the disease by eating tainted meat.