President Lee Draws Sword for NongHyup Innovation, Exposing Structural Ills

At the Chief Presidential Secretary Meeting: "NongHyup Must Be Returned to Farmers"
Calls for Swift Reform of Governance and Internal Controls
National Assembly Debates Amendments to the Agricultural Cooperatives Act
Six Key Tasks for Rural Trans

President Lee Jae-myung directly addressed the opaque decision-making structure and corruption issues involving some executives and employees at NongHyup, ordering accelerated reforms of the cooperative's governance—such as implementing direct elections by members. He explained that, with the rural population aging, the climate crisis worsening, and the outflow of young people driving rural extinction risk, it is necessary to first normalize NongHyup, which supports the foundation of agriculture, in order to push forward a major transformation of rural communities and agriculture.

President Lee Jae-myung is giving a speech at the senior secretaries meeting held at the Blue House on the 14th. (Photo by Blue House)

At a senior secretaries meeting presided over by the president and held at the Blue House on the 14th, President Lee stated, "The grand transformation of rural communities and agriculture must start by correcting the structural problems deeply rooted in our agricultural sector," urging for these reforms.

President Lee specifically identified the normalization of NongHyup as a core task. He believes that the cooperative has not been able to fulfill its essential role due to its opaque decision-making structure and corruption among some of its executives and employees. President Lee stressed, "NongHyup has a critical responsibility to protect farmers' rights and promote the sustainable development of rural communities, but in reality, it is falling short. We must return NongHyup, which has been built on the sweat and dedication of farmers, fully and without delay to its rightful owners—the farmers."

As a direction for NongHyup reform, President Lee called for strengthening member sovereignty and democratic oversight. He said, "From the perspective of member sovereignty, the governance structure must be improved promptly, and normalization measures, including enhanced democratic control, must also be completed quickly. I ask that reforms such as direct elections by members be accelerated so that NongHyup can truly be reborn as an organization that leads agricultural development and improves the quality of life for farmers."

In the National Assembly, discussions are underway to amend the Agricultural Cooperatives Act, focusing on how the president of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation is elected and on restructuring its audit function. On May 12, the Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans, and Fisheries Committee of the National Assembly held a public hearing on a proposed revision to the NongHyup Act that centers on introducing direct elections for the federation president and expanding government oversight. Supporters emphasized restoring NongHyup's governance and internal controls, while opponents raised concerns about legal stability and the potential loss of the cooperative's autonomy.

Currently, multiple amendment bills proposing different directions for NongHyup reform are pending in the National Assembly. The bill sponsored by Assemblyman Yoon Jun-byeong of the Democratic Party of Korea centers on direct elections for the federation president by all members and the establishment of an integrated audit body for the entire NongHyup organization. Assemblyman Moon Geum-joo's bill focuses on creating a president selection body consisting of cooperative chairpersons and members, as well as strengthening the expertise of the cooperative's audit committee. Meanwhile, Assemblyman Kim Sun-kyo of the People Power Party emphasizes strengthening governance transparency by introducing independent directors, ensuring objectivity in personnel and audits, and strictly responding to election-related violations, rather than changing the federation president election system.

However, the legislative process is proving difficult. Cooperative chairpersons across the country are resisting, arguing that introducing direct elections could politicize the federation president election, lead to excessive costs, and undermine autonomy due to the establishment of a NongHyup audit committee. The government and the ruling party had initially aimed to finalize legislation before the June 3 local elections, but with the public hearing schedule postponed, it has become virtually impossible to pass the bill before the elections.

During the meeting, there were also policy reports on the grand transformation of rural communities and agriculture. The Office of Economic Affairs reported on six tasks: normalization of farmland tax and levies, establishing a foundation for co-prosperity in agriculture in response to market opening, the direction of the national government’s rice policy, measures to improve the structure of the fisheries industry, ensuring a stable supply of labor and improving working conditions in the agricultural and fisheries sectors, and the next-generation transformation of agriculture and fisheries using artificial intelligence (AI).

President Lee ordered the mobilization of all policy tools to improve the quality of life for farmers. He noted that in regions where the basic income program for rural and fishing communities has been implemented, consumption and entrepreneurship are increasing, and in some areas, there has even been population growth. He said that proven programs such as rural basic income and solar income should be expanded to accelerate the transformation of rural communities.

The advancement of agriculture and improvements in distribution structures were also presented as key tasks. President Lee instructed that policy finance support should be expanded to promote the spread of smart farms utilizing artificial intelligence and robotics, and that the pace of improving agricultural product distribution should be increased to benefit both producers and consumers.

During the rice policy report, President Lee ordered thorough preparations so that the full labeling system for genetically modified foods (GMO)—scheduled to be implemented at the end of this year—would be sufficiently communicated to the public. In the report on improving the fisheries industry structure, the aging of fishing vessels and the number of excessive vessels were confirmed with quantitative data, and after the report on the stable supply of labor in agriculture and fisheries, the status of foreign workers was checked.

Regarding the issue of drastic drops or surges in crop prices, President Lee inquired about ways to help farms better predict and manage supply and demand. He also instructed a review of whether data management that goes beyond simple statistics could provide practical help in the field. A ruling party official explained, "The aim is to make NongHyup innovation the starting point for the grand transformation of rural communities and agriculture, while simultaneously pursuing structural reforms across the entire agri-fisheries sector—including farmland, rice, fisheries, labor, and AI data management."

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