Jinseongjun: "Yoon 'flatly' vetoed... Opposes because it's Lee Jae-myung's law"

Jin Seong-jun, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, criticized President Yoon Seok-yeol's veto of the amendment to the Grain Management Act, which was passed under the leadership of the Democratic Party, saying, "Can a bill passed for farmers and agriculture be so abruptly vetoed like that?"

On the 5th, Jin said on CBS's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show,' "If the government has some special measures for farmers and agriculture, that might be understandable, but it is neither acceptable nor understandable to exercise a veto without any measures."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The day before, President Yoon, in his remarks at the Cabinet meeting, directly criticized the amendment to the Grain Management Act, saying, "(The amendment) goes against the agricultural policy goals of increasing agricultural productivity and farmers' income and is a typical populist bill that does not help farmers and rural development at all," and exercised his veto. In response, Jin said, "That is not true," and rebutted, "The amendment to the Grain Management Act is a bill to normalize rice prices and guarantee a minimum income for farmers."

The ruling party's criticism of this bill as a populist bill is due to the provision that the state is obligated to purchase all surplus rice when production exceeds expectations by 3 to 5% or prices fall by 5 to 8% compared to the previous year. However, Jin explained, "The core is not that, but the essence is to manage rice production by adjusting the rice cultivation area in advance."

He said, "The government supports our farmers if they plant other crops in their paddies, such as soybeans, wheat, or other forage crops, instead of rice," and emphasized, "By providing such support, the aim is to reduce the rice cultivation area in advance and adjust and manage production so that rice does not become surplus. If the rice cultivation area increases compared to previous years, mandatory purchase is not required."

He added that the bill also includes provisions to prevent abuse of the government's mandatory purchase system by increasing cultivation areas. Jin said, "There are all these conditions attached to truly normalize our rice prices and guarantee farmers' income, but the veto was exercised by emphasizing only the mandatory purchase part. I wonder if they even properly read this bill."

He pointed out that President Yoon's veto of the bill is aimed at checking Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party. Jin said, "During the Lee Myung-bak administration, rice cultivation areas were adjusted like this, and the Moon Jae-in administration did the same. However, during the Park Geun-hye administration, which abandoned this pre-adjustment system, rice production increased wildly, and later all the surplus had to be purchased. Now, it is being rejected just because it is Lee Jae-myung's bill."

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