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A coalition of six farmer groups holds a press conference denouncing US pressure to change South Korea’s agricultural status as a developing country under the WTO in front of the South Jeolla Provincial Office on Oct. 21. (provided by the Korean Peasants League)

Farmers throughout South Korea warned of a battle to “force out the administration,” denouncing the government’s decision to relinquish status as a “developing country” within the WTO as a “national humiliation in the area of trade.”

On Oct. 25, members of the group Joint Action by Farmers to Preserve Developing Country Status in the WTO held a rally in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Complex in Seoul’s Jongno District, where they denounced the administration for “bowing to [US President Donald] Trump’s pressure, giving up trade and food sovereignty and driving agriculture to the brink.” Dressing in mourning clothes (funerals), the demonstrations wore headbands bearing the words “protect our developing country status.”

With their worst fears confirmed, farmers from all around South Korea vowed to “condemn” the Moon Jae-in administration with a farmers’ rally in November and the general elections next April. In a statement, the Korean Peasants’ League (KPL) asked, “Do we farmers even have country? [The government] would sell off the destiny of farmers at a single word from Trump.”

“After its path of collapse since the Uruguay Round negotiations and the launch of the WTO, South Korean agriculture has been pushed to the edge of a cliff with these measures,” KPL said.

“The fields of South Korea are filled with the groans of farmers. The 6 trillion won [US$5.13 billion] that Trump is demanding in defense costs could be used to pay allowances of 500,000 won [US$427.24] a month to one million farming households nationwide, and over 200,000 won [US$170.90] to the 2.4 million total farmers,” it continued, calling on Seoul to “overcome the pressure from the US and uphold our trade and food sovereignty.”

Farmers agreed that relinquishing South Korea’s developing country status would lead to a collapse of the domestic agricultural base.

“The US is opening up our agriculture to suit their own interests. Really, it’s all about rice,” said Park Heung-sik, chairman of the North Jeolla Association of Farmer Groups. “If we give up developing country status, South Korea’s base for food self-sufficiency completely collapses.”

“In the past, we’ve managed to sustain domestic agriculture with the allowance of 1.49 trillion won [US$1.27 billion] in subsidies, but if we’re only able to use 700 billion won [US$598.19 million] of these subsidies in the future [after developing country status is relinquished], we’ll have no recourse when rice prices fall,” Park argued. “They’re basically telling people not to grow rice.”

Kim Hee-sang, secretary-general of KPL’s Cheongju branch, said, “Giving up developing country status means giving up agriculture.”

“As soon as we let go of our developing country status, there’s going to be a flood of agricultural products from the US and other countries. In Chile, 95% of farms have been sold to major corporations,” Kim noted. “As we let go of developing country status, South Korean farming will be quickly subordinated to overseas food and seed companies with corporate structures, capital, and scale.”

“We don’t have the time right now because it’s harvest season and we’re short-handed, but once the harvesting is over, farmers will come together,” he promised. “There will be a fierce battle from farmers for their own survival.”

Park Haeng-deok, chairperson of Farmers’ Road, said, “We can no longer support an administration that has abandoned agriculture. We are going to fight, carrying on the same spirit that the late Baek Nam-gi [a farmer fatally struck with a water cannon jet during a 2015 demonstration] did when he was injured while calling for the preservation of farming.”

Park Hyeong-dae, a former KPL policy committee chairperson, said, “After being left on the brink of death by agricultural policies of import openness, agriculture is poised to suffer the coup de grace with reductions in rice tariff rates and agricultural subsidies.”

“Today will go down in history as a day of national humiliation in the areas of foreign affairs and trade,” he declared.

Others sounded a warning that the administration would pay the price for abandoning agriculture in next year’s general elections. Calling the decision a “death sentence for South Korean agriculture,” Kim Seong-bo, secretary-general of KPL’s Gwangju/South Jeolla alliance, said, “Now that it has given up even on treatment to prolong their lives, the government and ruling party will face judgment from farmers in next year’s general election.”

Farmers also signaled their unhappiness over the decision being made without listening to what the National Assembly and farmers had to say.

“With a food self-sufficiency rate of 24%, South Korea should rightly retain its status as a developing country in the area of agriculture,” said Lee Gap-seong, vice chairperson of the Gwangju Farmers’ Association. “The WTO has not even mentioned this as an issue, yet [the administration] gave away the future of agriculture at a single word from Trump, without even listening to farmers or the National Assembly.”

On Nov. 30, farmers plan to stage a nationwide rally in front of the National Assembly building in Seoul’s Yeouido neighborhood to denounce the government and ruling party for abandoning agriculture with their policies.

By Ahn Kwan-ok, Gwangju correspondent, Oh Yoon-joo, Cheongju correspondent, and Park Im-keun, North Jeolla correspondent

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