680.2
Food Sovereignty and the Politics of Food Insecurity in South Korea
As South Korea has become one of the fastest industrialized countries in the world, it has also been one which experienced a dramatic decline in agriculture. Between 1970 and 2011, the share of agriculture in GDP dropped sharply from 25.4% to 2.3%. The collapse of agriculture has been accelerated by the global agri-food system and the government`s neo-liberal agricultural policies. As a result, food insecurity is one of the most important social issues in South Korea, today. Food insecurity can be understood not only as low grain self-sufficiency, 22.6% in South Korea; but also, as food safety problems. The Korean government, however, has prioritized overseas land exploitation and has recently strengthened neoliberal agricultural reforms such as the FTA. Under these circumstances, the food sovereignty movement, which was originally advocated by La Via Campesina, has been discussed among the South Korean civic and peasant movement sectors. In order to establish food sovereignty, the peasant movement sector is urging the South Korean government to secure stable production, while the civic movement is advocating a rights to food project. Considering the fact that consistent food insecurity has threatened not just the farmers’ livelihoods, but the consumers’ dining tables, the concept and practical application of food sovereignty may bring many groups together. Building a consensus between civic groups and farmers’ movements seems to be more feasible in Korea, under these conditions. The aim of this paper is to analyze the various actors, and their dynamic interactions involved in food sovereignty, in South Korea. We investigate the mechanism of the politics of food insecurity and food sovereignty by examining two major cases in South Korea involving the full-tariff on rice, and the import ban on fisheries products from Japan, due to radioactive contamination.