SEOUL - A top South Korean farmers' group plans to send 1,000 protesters to Hong Kong in December when the World Trade Organization meets to agree on changes for agriculture and industrial goods, an official said on Sunday.
The global trade body aims to complete this round of trade talks, known as the Doha Development Agenda, by next year. South Korean rice farmers are angry at its efforts to rip down a wall of quotas protecting them from lower-priced producers.
"We are getting sign-ups from farmers and aim to send up to 1,000 people between Dec. 12 and Dec. 19 to protest against the WTO," an official at the Korean Peasants' League, which says it represents 3.5 million South Korean farmers, said by telephone.
Despite the country's rapid industrialization, South Korean farmers remain a vocal and impassioned group. One made headlines around the world in 2003 when he stuck a knife in his heart to protest against agriculture talks in Mexico.
Seoul first opened its rice market in 1995 under concessions at world trade talks, allowing imports of up to 4 percent of domestic consumption, which last year amounted to 205,000 tons.
South Korea has agreed with leading rice exporting countries to almost double quotas over the next decade, and to allow foreign rice in the stores, angering farmers.
South Korea -- Asia's third-largest economy -- remains out of step with most of the world in using quotas to protect its rice market. The Philippines is the only other country still using quotas, while other countries have opened their markets using tariffs.
But South Korean farmers argue the government has given up too much in the trade talks while failing to invest in agriculture to secure their way of life.
The rice deal, which is being reviewed by trade partners and parliament, will allow 10 percent of imports to be sold in stores. The amount will triple by 2010 and then be maintained until 2014 when the new quota system will expire.Reuters
