(Unofficial translation)

Fellow Koreans, farmers and fishermen,

It is very meaningful to hold this 2019 town hall presentation on a paradigm shift in agricultural, fisheries and rural policies here in Jeonju, a city rich in tradition and Hansik, Korean cuisine.

In particular, it is all the more pleasing to be joined by young next-generation rural community workers from Korea National College of Agriculture and Fisheries, a wellspring for fostering talented agriculture and fisheries-related professionals. I look forward to a new future where agriculture and fisheries inspire young people with hope.

We are all descendants of farmers and fishermen.

In prehistoric times, our ancestors established agrarian societies where rice cultivation and fishing coexisted. Agriculture and fisheries taught them the providence of nature. The cooperative spirit that arose from farming and fishing has enabled us to become an advanced civilization that respects elders and emphasizes community. 

The spirit and roots of the Korean nation lie in farming and fishing communities.

Through the 1894 Donghak Peasant Revolution that sprang from Jeollabuk-do Province, farmers intended to reform the country with their own hands. That spirit inspired our volunteer righteous armies and the March First Independence Movement, serving as the foundation for the Provisional Republic of Korea Government and our democratic republic. Declaring that the rightful owners of the country are farmers, many patriots joined the rural enlightenment movement to build the strength for modern civilization and the nation’s independence. 

The mainstay of the Republic of Korea’s progress has also been farming and fishing communities. 

These same underpinnings have also made possible the remarkable industrial development that we have accomplished. In the process, however, it is true that farming and fishing communities have become desolate, and disparities between them and cities have widened. 

Reflecting on such negative consequences, we intend to usher in a new agricultural and fisheries era with a renewed appreciation for the value of farming and fishing.

Farmers and fishermen, 

Since the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992, farming and fishing community development has been considered a public good that contributes to the economy, society and environment. The European Union highlighted agriculture’s importance within society in its Cork Declaration in 1996.

The Korean people, too, understand the future value of farming and fishing communities – innovative places where people live harmoniously with nature while pursuing mutually supportive relations with cities. Their expectations about what that value can deliver are also increasing more and more as they come to consider having food and an environment that are safe and healthy to be as important as having national food security.

The Government also shares the same ideas and objectives. Deeply committed to the idea of farming and fishing communities laying down the future of the Republic of Korea, we made the creation of “farming, forestry and fishing communities that draw people back” one of our administrative priorities and established the Presidential Special Council on Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Policies. As such, the Government is redoubling efforts to advance rural communities. 

The price of rice has rebounded after plummeting and has currently stabilized around 190,000 won per 80-kg bag. In addition, the successful conclusion of five years of rice-tariff negotiations will see our rice industry protected by a 513 percent customs duty. 

Animal epidemic control measures have been drastically toughened, thereby markedly reducing outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease and avian flu. Moreover, strong early-stage responses have stemmed the spread of African swine fever.  

Last year, average annual farm household income exceeded 40 million won for the first time, hitting 42 million won, while that of fishing households surpassed 50 million won. 

This outcome was achieved by the 2.43 million farmers and fishermen working hard in rice paddies, fields and at sea now. I am deeply grateful. 

I also send words of encouragement to Chairman Park Jin-do of the Presidential Special Council on Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Policies and its members who have spearheaded the transformation of the policy framework for agricultural and fisheries administration while personally communicating with farmers and fishermen across the country. 

Farmers and fishermen, 

The sweat that farmers and fishermen shed in fields and at sea denotes honest work. They lead noble lives that comply with the providence of nature. 

The Government’s agricultural and fisheries policies must respond to their honesty and nobility accordingly. To this end, the Government will boldly transform the framework of agricultural and fisheries policies to ensure that their results reflect the value of sustainability and that benefits from innovation and growth are equitably distributed. 

First, we will implement agricultural and fisheries policies that are centered on the people and the environment. 

A rice subsidy system designed to promote the public good is key to sustainable agricultural policies. We will overhaul the subsidy system – now heavily weighted toward rice farming – so that benefits will also go to those engaged in dry-field farming. More consideration will also be given to farmers running small and medium-sized farms in order to narrow gaps that arise due to differences in the size of farms. 

We’ll strive to help eco-friendly farming and fisheries take root as well. The farm-related subsidy system will be modified in a way that preserves the landscape and environment. In addition, we will explore ways to improve the fisheries-related subsidy system for the sake of environmental protection, for instance, by encouraging voluntary halts in fishing and eco-friendly fish farming.

Second, we will make living in farming and fishing communities more appealing.

The lives of farmers and fishermen are based around villages that also serve as places of relaxation for those from other parts of the country. By 2022, we will   build over 900 facilities related to everyday life in areas with town or township offices so that everyone in those districts can gain access to childcare and healthcare services within 30 minutes, enjoy cultural activities and leisure services within 60 minutes, and receive emergency assistance within five minutes, or “3.6.5 living zones.” 

We will quickly devise a marine zone plan while modernizing fishing villages as outlined in “Fisheries Innovation 2030” and the “Fishing Village New Deal 300.” We will boost the vitality of fishing villages by developing tourism resources such as seaside dullegil trails and marine-based healing centers. 

We will also focus on a green new deal policy for farming and fishing villages. As with the solar power generation project in Jeollanam-do Province’s Hyuam-ri in Sinan-gun, we will expand renewable energy-based cooperatives that are led by local residents and help increase their incomes. We will reinvigorate 6,000 socio-economic organizations in farming and fishing villages and increase the number of local food outlets, currently about 250, to more than 1,200 by 2022.

We will provide one-stop relocation services by establishing an integrated platform for moving into farming and fishing villages. We will foster Korea National College of Agriculture and Fisheries as an academy for young farmers and raise the outlook for farming and fishing villages by providing support for female farmers and young people starting agricultural businesses. In addition, we will usher in an era of cooperation among the local administrators of agricultural and fisheries policies by invigorating existing consultative farming and fisheries chambers.

Third, we will advance the management of agricultural and fisheries’ supply and demand and the system to stabilize product prices.

In order to properly manage the supply and demand of farm produce, we will provide support so that farmers’ organizations will be able to adjust cultivation areas in advance and autonomously coordinate supply according to crop yields.  

By expanding certified joint branding among cooperatives, as with Haessare Peaches, and by spreading online or cyber transaction systems, we will help farmers and fishermen increase their incomes during distribution and sales processes. In addition to improving the system for registering agricultural businesses, we will help stabilize supply and demand and promote innovation in distribution by building a comprehensive system to share information on everything from production to consumption.

Fourth, we will help invigorate the farming and fishing industries and work to make them smarter. 

Our smart farm technology, plants, materials and equipment have become so advanced that they are now exported not only to Central Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East but also to Japan and the United States. Smart technology, which is now mostly applied to greenhouse horticulture, will be widely expanded to open-air crop cultivation, livestock farming and fisheries as well as small and medium-sized farming and fishing households. This will make farming and fishing industries more competitive and the lives of elderly farmers more convenient. 

By intensively nurturing five promising foods, including products customized for special needs, the Government will help expand overseas markets for agricultural and marine products. As we have done with the large companies and SMEs that specialize in kimchi production, we will foster mutually beneficial growth in the food industry.

Fifth, the Government will work harder to provide safe foods through a food plan.

The Government is trying to improve elementary school students’ diet and increase fruit consumption by providing seasonal fruit – rather than processed bread or meat – to 240,000 of them in after-school programs. Beginning next year, we will expand the supply of fresh produce to pregnant women and the less privileged. 

In addition, we will expand the local food plan that is currently adopted by 46 local governments to 100 by 2022. This is a comprehensive strategy designed to promote a virtuous cycle where regions cultivate, distribute and consume their own local produce. 

Fellow Koreans, farmers and fishermen,

Every year, half a million people relocate to farming and fishing villages, and half of them are young adults under 40. This year, the number of people directly engaged in commercial farming and fishing will increase to 1.36 million, 90,000 more than two years ago. 

The fact that farming and fishing villages are once again becoming the hope of the Republic of Korea means that farming and fishing are more than just new growth industries. The long history of human survival lies in farming and fishing, and both also contain solutions to future social problems that may arise. We will help preserve the traditional virtues of our nation such as pumasi, private labor exchanges; dure, communal labor; and sinbaram, high spirits, and also nurture the potential to create a sustainable society in rural communities.

I hope that through this bold, grand transformation of agricultural and fisheries policies, young people will carve out their futures in rural areas, seniors will enjoy healthy lives through work and the environment will become cleaner and safer. Through sharing and cooperation, I look forward to people in farming and fishing villages regaining the sentiment that they live together in harmony. 

We will join you in creating farming, forestry and fishing villages with a growing number of young people and children as well as a Republic of Korea of agriculture and fishery that is worthy of passing on. 

Thank you.