German cattle may be sent to Korea

Bid may help starving country

By Kirsty Alfredson
CNN.com Correspondent

BONN, Germany (CNN) -- A beef sales slump following the mad cow crisis is so severe in Germany it is considering sending 400,000 surplus cattle to the famine stricken North Korea.

The officials from the German Consumer Protection and Agriculture department and North Korea will meet this week to discuss the proposal first mooted by German non-government humanitarian aid organization, Cap Anamur.

There is no North Korean Embassy in Germany but the country's representatives in Berlin have written to the German Government requesting it consider sending the surplus beef.

Dr Rupert Neudick from Cap Anamur, German Urgency Doctors, told CNN there were deep emotions in Europe over the slaughtering of more than 400,000 cattle in Germany without any reason other than market demand.

400,000 cattle to be slaughtered

The government plans to kill the cattle under a "purchase for destruction" program launched by the European Union last month to support market prices in the wake of the mad cow crisis. Up to 1.2 million cows could be slaughtered and burnt across Europe.

Dr Neudick said his organization acted as a mediator between the two governments.

"Because of the mad cow disease and the news, nobody would dare buy beef, we are in a very difficult and sensitive market situation with the German public," Dr Neudick said.

"We were asked by the North Korean Government to mediate their question to the German government. We are in daily contact with the diplomatic bureau in Berlin."

A spokeswoman for the German Consumer Protection and Agriculture Minister said there would be no decision over the cattle until next week at the earliest.

She said there were logistic problems to consider, as transporting that number of cattle was impossible and sending frozen beef was impractical as there was inadequate refrigeration in North Korea.

The spokeswoman said experts believed sending canned beef was the best option but then there were other concerns over the impact on trade in the region and conditions on how the meat would be distributed.

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