Yul Kwon:
Hi, welcome to LinkAsia. I'm Yul Kwon. Our top story this week. The US Department of Agriculture has reported a new case of mad cow disease. Within hours of the announcement, countries that buy American beef were on high alert. Mad cow disease can cause a fatal brain disease in humans who consume the tainted beef. Both Japan and South Korea buy hundreds of millions of dollars worth of US beef every year. So public health officials in both countries rushed to tell consumers there wasn't any danger. But as South Korean broadcaster MBC reports, a lot of people weren't convinced.

Reporter:
This large grocery store put up a sign. It's not selling US beef. In the meat aisle, US beef disappeared, and Australian beef replaced it. After mad cow disease was found in the US, Lotte Mart immediately decided to stop selling US beef out of consideration for its anxious customers. But E-mart has decided to keep selling. It says if it didn't sell what it has now, it would only confuse customers. As news about mad cow disease spread, E-mart started selling US beef at 50 percent off. It was worried consumers wouldn't buy US beef because of mad cow disease, so it slashed its prices. But the reaction from consumers has been cold.

Customer:
I won't buy it, because of mad cow disease. Anyway, I'm always nervous whenever I eat US beef.

Customer:
Even though it's cheap, I've never bought US beef.

Customer:
I don't think I would ever eat US beef.

Reporter:
Large supermarket chains will decide whether or not they should continue selling US beef based on government guidelines. But the government says it hasn't gotten accurate information about mad cow disease from the US. So consumers remain anxious.