After announcing about a week ago that the ban against U.S. beef import would be lifted, Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-chun said Tuesday that, until the U.S agreed to export only meat from younger cattle, South Korea wouldn't import U.S. beef.

According to CNN, South Korea's agriculture minister said that the public was concerned about the meat form cattle over 30 months old. He said that U.S. has to agree to export meat from younger cattle or the exports to South Korea would not take place.

The weekend was dominated by the protests of tens of thousand South Koreans who expressed their objection towards the government’s plan to import U.S. beef.

CNN reported that more than 40,000 protesters gathered in central Seoul Saturday night and police arrested more than 200.

In 2003, South Korea stopped the U.S. beef imports because of a mad cow disease case announced in the United States.

On April 18 new regulations were made so that the import could start again. The deal interdicted the import of tonsils, brains, spinal cord marrow and a section of the small intestine which are the most likely to transmit the mad cow disease to humans. But the agreement didn’t mention any restrictions regarding the age of the cattle.

There is a greater risk of mad cow disease if the cattle are more than 30 month old.

U.S. Meat Export Federation informed that, since the market for the beef has closed, the U.S. beef industry lost about $4 billion.