Police used water cannon against protesters as they made for the presidential palace [AFP]

Police used water cannon after scuffles broke out with demonstrators as they tried to march towards the presidential palace in Seoul on Sunday, a day after 40,000 protested in the capital.
 
No serious injuries were reported despite the outbreak of violence against the angry protesters, many of them chanting: "Down with President Lee Myung-Bak."
 
Seoul agreed in April to lift the US beef import ban which was imposed in December 2003 amid fears over the so-called "mad-cow" disease.
 
Washington had demanded the resumption of beef imports ahead of a free trade agreement with South Korea.

But parliament failed to ratify the deal before the legislature's four-year term expired on Thursday. Before the ban, South Korea was the third-largest market for US beef.

Beef challenge

The issue has emerged as the biggest challenge for Lee's fledgling administration.

The former construction industry chief executive took office on February 25 vowing to boost the economy.

But despite coming to power with the largest margin of victory in a South Korean election, his handling of the beef agreement has seen his popularity plummet to about 20 per cent.

Scientists believe that mad-cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, spreads when farmers feed cattle recycled meat and bones from infected animals. The US banned recycled feeds in 1997.

In humans, eating meat products contaminated with the cattle disease is linked to fatal variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

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