SKorea to resume US beef imports

South Korea will announce the resumption of US beef imports Thursday despite mounting protests sparked by mad cow fears, the ruling Grand National Party said.A meeting early Thursday of senior government and GNP officials agreed that Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-Chun should issue the public notice at 4:00pm (0700 GMT), a party spokesman told AFP.Seoul last month agreed to lift its intermittent ban on US beef imports -- first imposed in December 2003 amid a mad cow scare -- as a pre-condition for Washington's approval of a separate free trade pact.But opposition parties are refusing to ratify the free trade agreement with the United States unless President Lee Myung-Bak's government renegotiates the beef deal.