Police block protesters trying to march toward the presidential Blue House in Seoul after a candle-light vigil June 7, 2008.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    SEOUL, June 7 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak plans to have a phone conversation with his U.S. counterpart George W. Bush later Saturday to seek Washington's cooperation not to have U.S. beef from older cattle exported to the country, the president's spokesman said.

    "President Lee will convey the concerns and worries of the Korean people and ask for understanding and cooperation not to have beef from cattle older than 30 months exported to Korea," the spokesman, Kim Eun-hye, was quoted by the news agency Yonhap as saying at a media briefing on Saturday.

    The move came amid escalating public protest in South Korea against an agreement with Washington in April to resume imports of U.S. beef from all ages. All Lee's senior secretaries offered their resignations on Friday, taking responsibility for the growing public criticism of the Lee administration over the beef deal. Lee has yet to accept their resignations.

    Tens of thousands of Koreans have held candlelight vigils almost daily since early May, calling for renegotiation of the deal.

    Instead of a renegotiation, Lee has vowed to encourage South Korean and U.S. private sectors to "voluntarily" ban imports of beef from cattle older than 30 months. Civic groups have snubbed the proposed voluntary regulations as "a deception."

    Experts say the age limit is important because younger cows are believed less likely to contract bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), more commonly called mad cow disease.

    BSE is a brain-wasting illness that can cause the fatal variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) among people who eat tainted beef.

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