Amendment to the Grain Management Act Passed in Plenary Session Led by Opposition (Update)

Amended Mediation Proposal by the Speaker on the Grain Management Act Passed in the Plenary Session

The amendment to the Grain Management Act, which stipulates the government's mandatory purchase of surplus rice, passed the National Assembly plenary session on the 23rd.

On that day, the National Assembly approved the bill with 169 votes in favor, 90 against, and 7 abstentions out of 266 members present. The Grain Management Act initially passed the National Assembly's Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee in October last year, but since it was not passed by the Legislation and Judiciary Committee for more than 60 days, it underwent a direct referral procedure.

The Grain Management Act was scheduled to be voted on in the previous plenary session, but Speaker Kim Jin-pyo requested additional negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties and did not bring it to the floor, causing a delay. Although further discussions took place between the parties, no consensus was reached, leading to the vote on this day.

The amendment to the Grain Management Act that passed the plenary session this time is a revised version of the bill that passed the Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Kim Seong-hwan, the Policy Committee Chair of the Democratic Party, explained the revised bill on the day, saying, "The unprecedented rice price collapse last year was caused by the government's failure to isolate rice from the market in a timely manner despite the current law having market isolation standards legally established, but limited as a mandatory provision." He added, "The Grain Management Act was proposed to make market isolation mandatory when the conditions are met and to support the cultivation of alternative crops to stabilize rice supply and demand and improve food self-sufficiency." Kim Seong-hwan also said, "We have grandly accepted the Speaker's mediation proposal and thus proposed the revised amendment."

The Democratic Party of Korea, through consultations with the Speaker who sought a compromise with the government and ruling party, strengthened the surplus production requirement for mandatory purchase from 3% to 5%, expanded the rice price decline range from 5% to 8%, and prepared a revision allowing exemption from mandatory purchase when rice cultivation area increases. However, despite the revision, the mandatory purchase clause remained, preventing consensus with the ruling party.

Democratic Party lawmaker Shin Jeong-hoon spoke in favor, stating, "During the Lee Myung-bak administration, rice prices were maintained at around 170,000 won, but they plummeted to around 120,000 won during the Park Geun-hye administration. The Moon Jae-in administration restored prices to 210,000 won, but under the Yoon Seok-youl administration, prices sharply dropped to 180,000 won." He added, "It is clear that we cannot continue this foolish vicious cycle forever." Shin said, "The amendment to the Grain Management Act aims to resolve structural and chronic overproduction of rice through active cultivation area management and production adjustment, and to immediately isolate the market in case of sudden, temporary surplus caused by disasters. Contrary to the government and ruling party's claims, it has nothing to do with unlimited mandatory purchases."

On the other hand, Lee Yang-su of the People Power Party spoke against the bill, arguing, "If market isolation is made mandatory as the opposition claims, it will increase incentives for cultivation, deepen structural oversupply of rice, disrupt market functions, and increase the government's financial burden." He called it "a bad law that will cause a vicious cycle of reduced future agricultural investment and decreased competitiveness." Lee criticized that it would deepen the rice oversupply structure, increase fiscal burden, cause stagnation of farm income due to persistent oversupply, and worsen actual food security vulnerability due to intensified imports of wheat and soybeans.

Since no further negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties were made, the revised bill created through consultations between the Democratic Party and the Speaker was passed in the plenary session that day.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.