A South Korean housewife holds a cutout depicting U.S. imported cow during a rally against a recent South Korea-U.S. agreement on the expansion of U.S. beef import near the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, May 7, 2008. A senior South Korean official rejected mounting calls Tuesday for the government to scrap an agreement to resume U.S. beef imports. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Seoul, South Korea (AP) South Korea's government says it will resume importing U.S. beef despite fears of mad-cow disease that have led to street protests.

The agriculture minister says the government is easing quarantine regulations on U.S. Beef in accordance with an April 18th agreement with Washington.

The new rules will take effect in a few days, after they're published in a government journal.

Today's announcement is the final administrative step necessary to resume U.S. Beef imports. It had been delayed several times in recent weeks amid anti-government protests calling for scrapping the deal.