Korean cattle farmers have criticized President Lee Jae Myung over his initiative to advance Korea’s beef trade with Brazil, saying it will worsen the market competitiveness for Korean beef (hanwoo) and impact cattle farmers' businesses. Hanwoo Association, based in Seoul, said Thursday that Lee made the order to bolster trade between the two nations without fully assessing the impact the deal would have on Korean hanwoo farmers. Following Lee's summit with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brasilia on Monday, the government announced a plan to dispatch health and quarantine experts to Brazil in August to inspect the country’s beef industry and confirm its qualitative conditions before importing Brazilian beef. The measure came after the two presidents met in Seoul in February and signed a four-year action plan for 2026-29, agreeing for Korea to assess the import risks of Brazilian beef. The group condemned the plan, saying it came even before Lee confirmed how bilateral beef trade could harm the domestic hanwoo market and prepared countermeasures to protect Korean ca