[2025 Top 10 News] Shaken Youth Agriculture Policy

Last July, Hwang Mo, a selected first-generation young farmer under the "Youth Farmer Program," took his own life due to continuous poor harvests and the pressure of repaying policy funds. This incident brought the issues of the "Youth Farmer Program" policy back into the spotlight. The Yoon Suk-yeol administration aimed to "cultivate 30,000 young farmers" and significantly increased the selection scale of young farmers from 2023. However, as budget allocation did not follow, the policy funds were quickly exhausted, blocking loans for young and successor farmers, leading to numerous damages. Subsequently, the government's high-pressure policy of switching the fund allocation method from first-come, first-served to selective support further intensified the backlash on the ground. Additionally, at the end of 2022, the repayment period for successor farmer funds was extended to "20 years of repayment after 5 years of grace," but there is ongoing fairness controversy as applicants for ...