Civic groups are calling for an immediate halt to the imports and distribution of U.S. beef.

The civic groups, including the Anti-Mad Cow Organization and the No FTA Headquarters, held a press conference at the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy headquarters.

In light of a recently confirmed case of mad cow disease in the state of California, they argued that only zero-point-one percent of slaughtered cows in the U.S. are inspected every year. The civic groups pointed out that the recent case could mean the disease is more prevalent in the United States than previously thought.

They also said that stricter quarantine measures are meaningless, stressing that the only way to protect the health and safety of the Korean citizens is to completely halt the beef imports.