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Farmers sow rice seedlings on the concrete tile ground during a rally on May 16 in front of the Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corporation (aT) in Naju

A South Jeolla farmers’ group held a demonstration to protest imported rice bidding that took place a week after the new South Korean administration took office.

Around 200 farmers with the Gwangju-South Jeolla branch of the Korean Peasants’ League held a rally on May 16 in front of the Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corporation (aT) in Naju, South Jeolla Province, to demand a halt to rice imports and the dismissal of Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Kim Jae-soo.

In their protest, the demonstrators said the new administration had ignored farmers’ appeals in going ahead with bidding for the import of 25,000 tons of rice. They also voiced concerns that “leading examples of bad agriculture practices” by the Park Geun-hye administration (2013-16) could continue if the Moon administration does not pay attention to the issue.

As part of their protest of the bidding, the demonstrators used five planting machines to sow rice seedlings on the concrete tile ground in front of the aT offices.

The farmers also said the administration had made rice imports a “foregone conclusion” on May 16, after Kim placed an advertisement for bidding on overseas rice purchases on May 8, two days before the administration took office.

“[Kim] should be dismissed immediately, and attention should be paid to the farmers‘ voices,” they said.

The farmers went on to say the rice imports were a “repudiation of the will of Baek Nam-ki, the farmer who died opposing them.” (Baek was a farmer who died last year after being knocked over by a police water cannon at an anti-Park administration protest.)

“[The administration] needs to give hope to farmers who are facing fears of plummeting rice prices as they do their planting,” they said.

The farmers pledged to adopt even stronger protest measures after the busy season ends to ensure that rice imports are blocked.

“At a time when rice stores have been piling up for three years and rice prices have fallen, [the administration] has insisted on encouraging prices to fall even more with rice imports, causing tremendous economic damage to the state and farmers,” said Kim Yeong-sun, head of the Gwangju branch’s general affairs department.

“Rice imports are the top example of bad agriculture practices. They threaten our food sovereignty and must be stopped,” Kim said.

In a previous statement on May 15, the Korean Peasants’ League noted that tariff-rate quotas (TRQ) since the tariffication of rice in 2015 mandate imports of 408,000 tons per year.

“Yet [South Korea] has continued importing food rice even after the import obligation ended the same year because it is taking its cues from the US,” the group protested.

On May 12, the league presented the Blue House with a petition demanding that bidding for food rice purchases be overturned.

By Ahn Gwan-ok, Gwangju correspondent

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