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South Korea The Agricultural Crisis of the Late 1980s
Agricultural labor costs rose as young people left rural
areas for urban jobs, and farm work mainly was done by women and
old men. Farmers' relative earnings improved during the 1970s,
but fell in the 1980s. The gap between incomes of urbanites and
people in rural areas widened considerably in the late 1980s. In
1988 the average income of people in gun (counties)
amounted to 79.1 percent of that of people in cities, as compared
with 84.7 percent in 1985. South Korean farming households earned
about US$12,000 in 1988, up 24.4 percent from 1987. In
comparison, the average income for an urban family in 1989 was
about US$15,000. Nonfarm income in 1989 comprised 39.5 percent of
average farm household earnings, as compared with more than 50
percent in Japan and approximately 70 percent in Taiwan.
Farm families accumulated debts averaging about US$4,620 per
household in 1988 and had average assets of about US$66,057. The
purchase of modern farm machinery as well as of many new consumer
goods contributed to higher debts. The 35 percent rise in assets
between 1987 and 1988 mainly was because of a 41 percent increase
in the price of land. Budgetary pressures from the government on
agricultural price supports also reduced farm income.
There was increased rental of farmland in the 1980s. The
percentage of rented farmland among total farmland rose from 21
percent in 1980 to 30.5 percent in 1985. The percentage of farm
households renting some of their land among total farm households
expanded rapidly from 37.1 percent in 1980 to 64.7 percent in
1985. Nonfarmer ownership of tenant farmland also increased to 63
percent in 1985.
The farmers who rented land were mainly the small-landed
farmers adversely affected by Seoul's agricultural open-door
policy of the 1980s. Under this policy, the government sought
cheap cereal prices by increasing cheap imports and promoted
large-scale farming where crops could be produced more cheaply
and efficiently. In the early 1970s, a farm family could meet
almost 100 percent of household expenses by farming 0.5 to 1
hectare, but by 1985 such small plots of land only met 59.8
percent of expenses. Many farmers had to rent extra land to
augment their incomes.
Poor prospects on the farm depleted farm villages as the
young left and the old died. Parents sent their children to the
towns and cities for a better education. Young farmers who could
not find wives also left for the cities.
The government initiated various programs to improve rural
conditions. The most extensive of these was the New Community
Movement (Saemaul undong, known as the Saemaul Movement). Its
goal was to mobilize villagers in their own service. At first
Saemaul projects were aimed at improving household living
conditions. Later, projects were directed more to the village as
a whole and included the construction of roads, bridges,
irrigation ditches, and common compost plots. Next, the program
focused on more economic concerns--group farming, common seed
beds, livestock production, forestation, and even joint marketing
and factories. Better health and sanitation as well as
beautification of the environment also became program goals. The
government provided the materials and small amounts of money to
the villagers, who supplied the labor. In the early 1980s,
President Chun removed control over the Saemaul Movement from the
Ministry of Home Affairs and left most decisionmaking to the
Saemaul leaders and bureaucrats, headed by the president's
younger brother, Chon Kyong-hwan. The Saemaul Movement initially
was quite successful but deteriorated in the early 1980s. Chon
Kyong-hwan, arrested on a variety of corruption charges in 1988,
was accused of large-scale extortion and embezzlement while he
was chairman of the movement between 1981 and 1987.
South Korea, a high-cost agricultural producer, prohibited
unrestricted beef and rice imports and severely limited many
other agricultural imports. Foreign trading partners such as the
United States pressured South Korea to open up the agricultural
market, but Seoul said that its farmers would be hurt badly by
the importation of inexpensive beef, rice, tobacco, and other
products. In April 1989, Seoul released a list of 243
agricultural products scheduled for import liberalization by
199l, but the list did not include beef. In the late 1980s, many
farmers, were already deeply in debt, told by the government that
they might have to compete in the world market and took to the
streets to protest against foreign demands and to demand further
protection from the government.
In the late 1980s, farmers gained political strength through
the increased activities of various farm associations and the
formation of new organizations, such as the National Association
of Farmers (Chon'guk-nongmin hyophoe) established in 1987. The
Korean Catholic Farmers Association and Protestant Farmers
Association became active in 1987. These and other independent
farm groups applied strong pressure on the government to
alleviate their problems. Rural residents made up less than one
quarter of South Korea's voters, but they elected almost half of
the National Assembly; thus, they exercised virtual veto power
over farming legislation.
Data as of June 1990
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