(Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Yoon-gu = Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Song Mi-ryeong said on the 28th that increasing the import quota of U.S. rice is "impossible."
Minister Song made this statement during a comprehensive audit of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs at the National Assembly's Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and Oceans and Fisheries Committee, in response to a question from Representative Kang Myeong-gu of the People Power Party regarding remarks made by Foreign Minister Cho Hyun.
Earlier, members of the People Power Party on the National Assembly's Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and Oceans and Fisheries Committee had asked Foreign Minister Cho to apologize for saying during a government inspection that the import quota for rice by country could be increased.
Minister Song said, "We cannot adjust the country-specific quotas as we wish."
South Korea imports 408,700 tons of rice annually from five countries, including the United States, China, Australia, Thailand, and Vietnam, under the Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ), with over 130,000 tons being U.S. rice.
In response to the observation that Foreign Minister Cho's remarks differed from the government's previous stance, Minister Song replied that the Foreign Minister is not the subject of the negotiation.
To the question of whether the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs was bypassed in the tariff negotiations, Song emphasized, "Not at all."
He continued, "(The government) strongly stated from the beginning of the formal negotiations that rice and beef are red lines."
Minister Song also received a question from Representative Seo Cheon-ho of the People Power Party regarding the remarks of the Foreign Minister, to which he responded, "Rice and beef are a consistent stance of our government as red lines" and reiterated, "There has never been any formal negotiation for additional opening."
When Representative Jo Seung-hwan of the People Power Party requested that it be clearly stated that there had been no discussion, including formal negotiations, with the U.S. regarding rice opening, Song replied, "That's right. There has been no discussion."
On the same day, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy stated in a joint document from related agencies, "The government has consistently considered the sensitivity of agriculture important in the negotiation process and has maintained the position that additional rice opening is a red line for us" and "The government has not considered or proposed to the U.S. side the expansion of the import quota for U.S. rice and has agreed with the U.S. side not to make any additional rice opening..."