President Lee: "Agriculture Is a Core Strategic Industry Ensuring Food Sovereignty... Major Transformation of Rural Areas Needed"

President Lee Presides Over Chief Aides Meeting

"Revitalizing Rural Areas Is Key to Regional and Sustainable Growth"

Expansion of Rural Basic Income and Sunlight Income Programs

"Accelerate Policy Financing for Smart Farms and Improve

President Lee Jaemyung stated, "Agriculture is a core strategic industry of the Republic of Korea, responsible for food sovereignty and the survival of our people," and instructed his administration to mobilize all available policy tools to improve the quality of life for farmers and to drive a major transformation in rural areas.

Yonhap News Agency

On May 14, during his opening remarks at the presidential chief aides’ meeting held at the Yeomin-gwan of the Blue House, President Lee assessed that agriculture and rural communities served as the foundation of Korea’s economic growth during the industrialization era. He added, "Only when rural areas thrive can local communities prosper, and only when the regions prosper can the Republic of Korea achieve sustainable growth. It is time to actively pursue a major transformation in agriculture and rural communities with this determination."

Regarding the current reality in rural areas, President Lee diagnosed that they are facing the risk of extinction due to aging populations, the climate crisis, and the outflow of young people. He said, "Regrettably, the majority of rural areas now face the risk of extinction because of aging populations, the climate crisis, and the outflow of young people." He further emphasized the need to expand policies that genuinely improve the quality of life for farmers. President Lee stated, "To this end, we must mobilize a wide range of policy tools that can bring about tangible improvements in farmers’ quality of life."

As key measures for rural transformation, he proposed expanding the rural basic income and solar income programs. President Lee noted, "As a result of implementing the rural basic income, consumption and start-ups in those regions have increased, and in some cases, the population has risen significantly." He continued, "We must accelerate rural transformation by expanding basic income and solar income programs whose effectiveness has been proven, in order to improve the quality of life for farmers."

President Lee also identified the advancement of agriculture as a major task. He added, "We should continue to expand policy-based financial support to rapidly disseminate smart farms that utilize artificial intelligence and robotics."

He called for efforts to accelerate improvements in the agricultural product distribution structure and requested that the government focus its capabilities on this issue. President Lee said, "We will speed up the improvement of agricultural product distribution so that both producers and consumers benefit." He emphasized, "Our government must pool its capabilities to ensure that agriculture firmly establishes itself as a future core strategic industry and to achieve a major transformation in agriculture and shared growth for both rural and urban areas."

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