The Korea Times | 16 July 2025
Farmers protest potential reduction of barriers to US agricultural imports
By Ko Dong-hwan
Groups oppose agricultural sector falling victim in tariff talks strategy
Farmers here are vehemently protesting the government’s ongoing negotiations with the United States over tariffs, as the nation’s top negotiator hinted at reducing barriers to agricultural imports.
While the trade ministry sees the agricultural sector issue as part of its strategies for the overall tariff talks, farmers’ groups, as well as the agricultural ministry and some ruling lawmakers, claim the sector should not be sacrificed for the sake of other sectors, like manufacturing.
The Korean Successor Advanced Farmers Federation (KAFF), a group of young farmers, said they would take collective action if the country seeks to expand imports of U.S. agricultural products.
“We will not overlook if the government removes tariff and nontariff barriers on agricultural and livestock products without we farmers’ consent,” the group said during a rally near the presidential office in Yongsan District, central Seoul, Wednesday.
Their protest was in response to Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo’s Monday remarks that “the agricultural sector is what we need to make strategic decisions on … While protecting it, there are aspects to consider in the entire frame of negotiations.” He made the comment after returning from his U.S. trip where he discussed tariffs with his counterparts.
Washington has demanded Korea lift its ban on U.S. beef from cattle over 30 months old, and ease quarantine restrictions on apples and pears.
KAFF called Yeo’s remarks "irresponsible," saying if the Korean government allows more U.S. agricultural imports as a negotiation strategy for mitigating U.S. tariffs or delaying their execution, it will further jeopardize their businesses that are already losing to imported goods with cheaper prices.
"The government has never collected opinions from the farming sector. Talking about reducing import barriers without such process is deceiving us farmers ... this is a clear failure of ’negotiations within the country,’" it said.
The protesters said that following the 2007 initiation of the bilateral free trade agreement, Korea’s import volume from the U.S. jumped 57 percent over 15 years and the trade deficit for agricultural produce and livestock stood at $8 billion last year.
Claiming they are advocating for the country’s 2.2 million farmers, KAFF leaders said that giving into the Donald Trump administration’s “unreasonable pressure” to lift Korea’s tariff and nontariff barriers will threaten not only their domestic market share but also Korean public health.
“Trade Minister Yeo said that agricultural produce has always been a subject of negotiation in free trade agreements. It indicates his anti-agricultural view and his willingness to give up the country’s farming industry over its negotiation with the U.S. government,” KAFF Chairman Choi Heung-sik said during the rally.
“Korea has become the world’s fifth-largest U.S. agricultural importer. Even as the U.S. is currently benefiting hugely in its agricultural trade with Korea, the trade ministry is still seeking to yield more to the U.S. instead of defending us farmers.”
KAFF South Jeolla Province division Chairman Hong Young-shin, a rice farmer in Sinan County, expressed concerns of the U.S.’ potential demand for Korea to expand rice imports. Currently Korea imports 132,000 tons of U.S. rice each year under its trade rate quota (TRQ) and levies a 513 percent tariff on anything beyond the assigned volume.
“If we expand our rice TRQ and lower our tariff on U.S. rice imports as the U.S. wants, the Korean rice industry will no longer be sustainable,” Hong said. “Food security, same as military security, is a key condition for sovereignty and future competitiveness.”
A Korean livestock farmer from North Chungcheong Province and an apple farmer from North Gyeongsang Province, both leaders of KAFF regional units, said Korean beef and apple farming are both struggling right now and increasing U.S. food imports will further endanger their businesses.
Even some ruling Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers showed objection to the potential expansion of agricultural imports. DPK members on the National Assembly’s Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans, and Fisheries Committee on Tuesday issued a joint statement highlighting the importance of protecting the domestic agricultural industry from imported goods.
The lawmakers said the Korean government’s move is “once again downsizing the Korean agricultural industry as a whole into a mere negotiation card,” which is unacceptable.
They added the U.S. government’s demands are all directly linked to Korean public health and the Korean government is leaning toward accepting those conditions. "Farming is not exchangeable, because protecting food sovereignty is not about flexibility in negotiations."
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs on Wednesday responded to the boiling concerns, saying the government has not made any conclusion over the issue. It said the government is “prioritizing the public health and safety over everything, and carefully making moves as to negotiating with the U.S. government over the tariffs.”