SEOUL, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Despite pouring rain, thousands of Koreans waved candles in downtown Seoul on Monday night, opposing the resumption of U.S. beef imports and forcing the government to delay the policy for a third time.

    Amid mounting protest, the agriculture ministry said it would delay posting the new U.S. beef import rules on the government gazette, just a day before their planned implementation.

    Waving candles and umbrellas, protesters cheered for the government's announcement with hoots of joy. Candlelight vigils have been held almost every day in downtown Seoul over the past month, opposing the Seoul-Washington beef accord to fully scrap the age limit on U.S. beef.

    Citing growing public criticism and in-house calls for renegotiation, the ruling Grand National Party asked the government earlier in the day to postpone the final administrative process to resume U.S. beef imports, which has been already delayed twice.

    Hours later, at the ruling party's request, the agriculture ministry said in a statement "The request for postponement of the revised sanitary and phytosanitary standards has been sent to the Ministry of Public Administration and Security that is responsible for the printing of the gazette."

    In a sign of rising tension, police buses surrounded the protest venue around city hall.

    The peaceful candlelight vigils have recently turned violent as the protesters illegally occupied roads and tried to march to the presidential office. Police responded by firing water cannons and waving shields.

    The tension reached the highest level over the weekend when up to 100,000 people participated in the vigils. Support for President Lee Myung-bak has nose-dived to the 20 percent range just three months after he took office, according to various media surveys on Monday.

    Scrambling to calm public sentiment, Lee met with Chairman of the Grand National Party Kang Jae-sup on Monday for an imminent reshuffle of the Cabinet.

    Many consider the beef agreement, which was announced on the eve of Lee's first-ever summit with U.S. President George W. Bush in mid-April to be a concession by Seoul to get its free trade deal with Washington ratified by the U.S. Congress.

    Critics say the government sacrificed the Korean people's safety for trade benefits for business. Under the accord, Seoul will import almost all beef cuts from U.S. cattle of all ages, lifting bans that were placed after the United States reported its first case of mad cow disease in late 2003.

    Banned parts include brains, tongues and part of the intestine from cattle over 30 months old.