The government removed the last legal barrier keeping American beef imports from store shelves on Thursday, after weeks of demonstrations stoked by fears of mad cow disease.
Officials seized cattle that they said were being raised on an ecological reserve, a warning to other ranchers raising cattle on illegally deforested land in Amazonia.
The accord on beef import from the U.S. into South Korea will be put on hold until public concern over the deal subsides, a South Korean official said.
President Lee Myung-bak?s government reshuffle is intended to help restore trust, which has been shaken by a deeply unpopular deal on importing American beef.