[LETTER TO THE EDITOR]Overpriced rice

I applaud your editorial “Appeasing rice farmers” (Aug. 18) for its balanced, common-sense approach to the problem of farmers and rice prices. On a recent trip to Malaysia, I found that the cheapest 10-kilogram bag of rice cost approximately 30 percent of the retail cost of an equivalent bag of rice in Seoul (yes, Korean-style sticky rice).
In Canada, a country that produces only wild rice and imports Korean-style sticky rice from the United States, the same 10-kilogram bag is half the retail price of the same bag in Seoul. Why should Koreans and Korean residents pay two to three times as much for rice? Just because it’s Korean rice?
I sympathize with the farmers, but a lot of lower- and middle-income families in Korea could be spending their money on something else. They deserve our support too.

by Mike Sluchinski