The Nfa Resistance to the KORUS FTA

This paper focuses on the Korean National Farmers Association(NFA)’s failed attempt of social resistance to the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement. Located at the intersection of the local and the global, traditional methods of farming became threatened in the rural farmlands of Korea because of the Free Trade Agreement that assured US imported foodstuff to dominate the Korean market. Despite borrowing from the "Nyelani Declaration" from the international movement of food sovereignty, resistance was unsuccessful due to the fact that "larger strides" of globalized resources did not interweave with NFA's internal strategy and traditional support. Thus NFA's leadership and rhetoric failed to create a social movement to ensure viable economic food sovereignty in South Korea, as the South Korean government continues to take the path toward a neoliberal and profit-driven agricultural future.