The Democratic Party Requests President Yoon to Veto the Passage of the Grain Management Act (Comprehensive)

Passage of the Speaker's Mediation Amendment to the Grain Management Act in the Plenary Session
Ruling Party: "Anti-market Socialist-style Populist Bill"

The amendment to the Grain Management Act, which includes regulations requiring the government to compulsorily purchase surplus rice production, passed the National Assembly plenary session on the 23rd.

On that day, the National Assembly held a plenary session and approved the amendment 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 did not pass the Legislation and Judiciary Committee within 60 days, leading to a direct referral to the plenary session.

Originally, the bill was scheduled for a vote in the plenary session on the 27th of last month, but Speaker Kim Jin-pyo did not put it on the agenda, requesting additional negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties, which stalled the process. Subsequently, the parties held further discussions but failed to reach an agreement, resulting in 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 proposal on the day, stating, "The unprecedented rice price collapse last year was caused because, although the current law legally stipulates the criteria for rice market isolation, the government did not isolate the market in time due to the limitation of it being a mandatory provision." He added, "The Grain Management Act was proposed to mandate market isolation when the conditions are met and to support the cultivation of other crops to stabilize rice supply and demand and improve food self-sufficiency." Kim Seong-hwan further said, "We accepted the Speaker’s mediation proposal in a magnanimous manner and thus proposed the revised amendment."

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

Democratic Party lawmaker Shin Jeong-hoon, speaking in favor, said, "During the Lee Myung-bak administration, rice prices were maintained at around 170,000 won, but they plummeted to 120,000 won during the Park Geun-hye administration, recovered to 210,000 won under the Moon Jae-in administration, and sharply dropped to 180,000 won under the Yoon Seok-youl administration." He added, "It is clear that we cannot continue this foolish vicious cycle any longer." Shin Jeong-hoon argued, "The amendment to the Grain Management Act aims to resolve the 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 overproduction due to crop conditions. It has nothing to do with unlimited compulsory purchase demand as claimed by the government and ruling party."

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

As 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.

Immediately after the Grain Management Act was passed in the plenary session, the ruling party requested President Yoon to exercise his right to request reconsideration (veto power).

Kim Mi-ae, the floor spokesperson for the People Power Party, stated in a commentary, "The Grain Management Act is an anti-market socialist populist bill that forces the government to compulsorily purchase rice when prices fall or surplus exceeds certain criteria." She added, "The forced passage of the Grain Management Act will leave the damage entirely to agriculture and rural communities."

She continued, "Our Constitution stipulates the president’s right to request reconsideration of legislation to prepare against the possibility of radical, hasty, and unconstitutional legislation passing in a unicameral National Assembly dominated by a majority party’s parliamentary dictatorship." She said, "With the president’s exercise of the right to request reconsideration, the Grain Management Act must have the National Assembly’s will reconfirmed by an enhanced majority vote." On the previous day, Joo Ho-young, the floor leader of the People Power Party, also mentioned, "If the Grain Management Act passes, we plan to recommend the government exercise its right to request reconsideration and veto power," adding, "If any subsequent situations arise, the Democratic Party must take full responsibility."

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