Farm, fisheries groups launch task force to oppose CPTPP entry
Participants in a ceremony marking the launch of a task force opposing Korea’s entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership call on the government to protect the country’s agricultural, livestock, fishery and forestry industries at the Press Center in Seoul, Monday. Korea Times photo by Ko Dong-hwan
Cheaper imports feared to wipe out domestic produce
Workers from Korea’s agricultural, livestock, fishery and forestry industries on Monday jointly launched an emergency committee to oppose the government’s potential entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
They argued that joining the trade pact would increase imports into Korea, threatening their market share and livelihoods.
The launch of the CPTPP Task Force came as the government has yet to announce whether it will join the pact, which has been ratified by 12 countries, including Japan, Canada, Australia, Mexico and Vietnam. In June, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources denied a local media report that the government had decided to join the pact, saying it would “carefully consider joining the CPTPP, taking into account stakeholders’ views as well as domestic and external conditions.”
Early last month, Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan said the government would review the possibility of joining the pact. Later that month, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol said at a meeting of ministers of international economic affairs that he would begin gathering public opinion on the issue.
The protesters, citing a series of recent government steps that they said appeared to signal a move toward joining the CPTPP, criticized the government at a press conference in Seoul Monday. They said the government was pushing ahead with the measure without sharing detailed information on its potential impact and economic damage to domestic industries. They also claimed that the government had publicly downplayed the possibility of joining the pact while pushing ahead with preparations behind the scenes, ignoring their concerns.
The new committee said it had requested the ministries responsible for the agriculture, fisheries and forestry sectors to provide detailed data on how imports from CPTPP member states could affect each domestic industry.
“Japan, after joining the CPTPP, has been additionally importing an average of 220 billion won ($159 million) worth of fresh produce each year. If we join the pact, we will face aggressive trade conditions from CPTPP member countries, including tariff reductions, which will lead to an influx of cheaper imports,” said Kang Jeong-hyun of the Korean Rural Leaders’ Central Association in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, who organized the conference.
Officials from NongHyup’s Chungnam-Sejong regional office spray water on the roof and surrounding areas of a barn at a cattle ranch in Hongseong County, South Chungcheong Province, using a disinfection vehicle to cool the facility amid a prolonged heat wave, Aug. 5. Courtesy of NongHyup
“More seriously, even if a contagious disease outbreak or pestilence occurred in one of the member states, the CPTPP supports region-based quarantine measures and allows that country to continue exporting. That would completely undermine our quarantine sovereignty against countries posing evident biological threats. Japan is also planning to export seafood from waters contaminated by radioactivity following the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster once we join the pact.”
Representatives of 76 local civic groups from the industries that supported the launch of the CPTPP Task Force condemned the government at the conference. Noh Man-ho, CEO of the Korea Federation of Comprehensive Agricultural Organizations, said Korean farmers are already suffering from an aging workforce, labor shortages, rising production costs, unstable market prices, extreme weather conditions and years of competition with cheaper imports.
“Our average annual income is merely 10 million won, and we are losing young farmers. If the country opens our market further to more countries at this point, we will literally die. Before deciding to open our market to more countries, the government must calculate the measure’s impact on the farming sector. We’re not asking for any privileges. We want the government to safeguard the country’s fundamental industries that produce the food on our tables,” he said at the conference.
Kim Hyang-suk, chairwoman of the Women Advanced Farmers’ Federation in Seoul, said farmers’ incomes had remained largely unchanged for the past 30 years while costs had risen, driving their net incomes to record lows. Even as they tried to improve productivity and quality in line with government regulations, what they witnessed was a prolonged slump and mounting debt, she added.
“Further opening our market to more countries at this point will threaten small farms and the livelihoods of female farmers in particular. We do not have enough resources or people to compete against an onslaught of imports,” she said. “Without female farmers, there is no future for sustainable agriculture. Agriculture is difficult to recover once disrupted. What we want is not special treatment. All we want is to be able to get by day after day, raise our children and safely supply our produce to the public.”
The protesters said the CPTPP Task Force would ask relevant ministries next Monday to share updates on the government’s consideration of joining the pact and stage a large-scale rally in Seoul on Oct. 15.