Veto the rice bill, prime minister tells president Yoon Suk Yeol

Politics

Published: 29 Mar. 2023, 17:48

Veto the rice bill, prime minister tells president Yoon Suk Yeol

A public rice storage facility in Cheongju, North Chungcheong, on March 23. The DP pushed a reform bill that will mandate the government to purchase excess rice. [YONHAP]

The prime minister is advising the president to veto legislation requiring the government to purchase excess rice.

“The legislation forces the government to purchase all of the excessively produced rice regardless of how much people consume,” Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said. “Such a law does not help either the farmers or the development of agriculture.”

Han said he plans to advise President Yoon Suk Yeol to veto the legislation, which was passed last week by the Democratic Party in the National Assembly.

“The government has repeatedly explained the problem and the side effects of the bill.”

He said the government is willing to spend 10 trillion won or even 20 trillion won if that could save the local farms.

“However, this is not the way,” Han said. “Even today, our rice industry is in a state of excessive production and unstable prices.”

He warned that the recently passed bill will only drive local farms into a deeper crisis.

“Populist policies that go against market principles will never succeed,” the prime minister stressed.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, center, announces his plan to advise President Yoon Suk Yeol to veto the reform bill on the mandatory purchase of oversupplied rice, in Seoul on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

On March 23, the National Assembly passed the Agricultural and Fishery Products Quality Control Act, which requires the government to purchase rice if the oversupply exceeds 3 and 5 percent of the expected demand or if rice prices fall more than 5 to 8 percent on year.

The bill, the first sponsored by the DP leader Lee Jae-myung, passed after 169 approved among the 266 lawmakers that cast votes.

Lee is embroiled in a number of legal battles, including those related to the Daejang-dong development scandal and bribery allegations regarding a football club sponsorship.

The government and the People Power Party (PPP) have vehemently opposed the mandatory purchasing of rice, especially noting that the government mandatory purchase will only weaken the incentive to innovate or increase the product’s competitiveness.

They have argued that farms and related companies need to consider using rice for other purposes, including for processed good, as consumption has been shrinking.

The Korea Rural Economic Institute estimates in a report that it would cost the government more than 1 trillion won if it is required to purchase the excess rice. And that figure will continue to grow to nearly 1.5 trillion won by 2030.

Last year, the annual rice consumption per capita was 56.7 kilograms, the lowest since the record were first compiled.

This is a 0.4 percent dip compared to the previous year. But when compared to 2013, it is down 15.6 percent, or 10.5 kilograms.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]