South Korea's Lee says next year's budget to put 200bn won into rural fund
In short
President Lee Jae-myung said at a cabinet meeting on Oct 6 that next year's budget will include 200 billion won for the rural and fishing village win-win cooperation fund, part of a plan to accumulate more than 1 trillion won. He said the fund holds about 325.5 billion won so far and that voluntary contributions had left it short of what is needed. Lee also promised to correct the gap between falling farm-gate prices and rising urban retail prices.
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President Lee Jae-myung said on Oct 6 that next year's budget will allocate 200 billion won to the rural and fishing village win-win cooperation fund, speaking at a cabinet meeting he presided over at the Blue House, Yonhap reported. He said an additional 500 billion won would be injected in the future so that more than 1 trillion won is accumulated, according to Yonhap and a Chosun Ilbo flash report. Newsis carried the same headline figure. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
Lee said the fund currently holds about 325.5 billion won, which he called insufficient, and attributed the shortfall to contributions being voluntary rather than mandatory. He said he did not want the rural income support to be regarded as a giveaway or as wasted public money, and described expanding the income safety net as a way to prevent regional extinction and ease the concentration of people and resources around the capital region. [ 3 ]
He also said that compensation mechanisms created when the government signed free trade agreements had not worked properly, leaving farmers with high distrust of the government, and argued that adequate support should flow from the areas that benefit to those that are harmed. Lee promised to correct the pattern in which farm-gate prices fall sharply while urban retail prices rise. [ 3 ]
Lee also referred to the parliamentary audit that began the same day, asking the government to review the issues raised and accept those that could improve its shortcomings, and to treat reasonable criticism as grounds for institutional and administrative change. He asked the National Assembly to use its authority for the public and the country rather than for partisan interests. [ 3 ]
Why it matters
The remarks set a concrete budget commitment for a fund intended to support rural and fishing incomes, which Lee framed as a way to counter regional decline and the concentration of population and resources around the capital region. The documents give no cost estimates or timetables for the wider measures beyond the fund, so the practical effect is not yet quantifiable. The subject is largely domestic and of limited consequence to readers outside South Korea.
Key facts
- President Lee Jae-myung said next year's budget will include 200 billion won for the rural and fishing village win-win cooperation fund. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- Lee said the fund has accumulated about 325.5 billion won so far, which he called insufficient. [ 3 ]
- He said an additional 500 billion won will be injected later, aiming for more than 1 trillion won in total. [ 1 , 3 ]
- Lee attributed the fund's shortfall to contributions being voluntary rather than mandatory. [ 3 ]
- He said the rural income support should not be viewed as a giveaway or a waste of public funds. [ 3 ]
- Lee said expanding the rural income safety net could help prevent regional extinction and ease the capital-region single-pole system. [ 3 ]
- Lee said FTA-era compensation mechanisms for farmers had not worked properly, leaving high distrust of the government. [ 3 ]
- Lee promised to correct the pattern of farm-gate prices falling while urban retail prices rise. [ 3 ]
Confirmed by several sources
Still unclear
- When the additional 500 billion won will be injected. The documents say only that it will come later, with no schedule or funding source given.
- Whether contributions to the fund will become mandatory. Lee said contributions are currently voluntary and that this left the fund short, but the documents do not say whether that rule will change.
- How the planned rural income safety net and distribution reform will be implemented. These are stated as intentions in a single document, with no measures, timetables or cost estimates.
What local media are saying
Timeline, local time
- Chosun Ilbo reports Lee's remarks on the 200 billion won budget allocation for the fund, citing a 1 trillion won accumulation target. [ 1 ]
- Newsis reports the same headline figure. [ 2 ]
- Yonhap publishes the full remarks, including the 325.5 billion won already accumulated and the 1 trillion won target. [ 3 ]