- Uno dei gruppi più numerosi tra i manifestanti anti-WTO a
Hong Kong sono gli agricoltori coreani (1.500). - Intervista ad uno di questi, Han Jeong Hyeon, nel suo
villaggio prima di partire. - Nel villaggio ci sono ormai solo ultra-50enni; Han (37) e la
madre dal loro appezzamento di terra ricavano 20.000 dollari netti l’anno
coltivando riso e yam (igname in italiano). L’apertura ai prodotti agricoli
stranieri farebbe crollare il reddito. - Agricoltori negli ultimi mesi hanno organizzato
manifestazioni; scontri con polizia durante il vertice APEC di Busan. Al
vertice WTO di Cancun (2003) un agricoltore si è ucciso pugnalandosi. Altri si
sono suicidati in Corea quest’anno. - Governo intende liberalizzare nell’agricoltura come
contropartita per la liberalizzazione dei prodotti industriali da parte dei
PVS. - Dice Han: i benefici della liberalizzazione non
vanno ai contadini dei paesi poveri, ma alle grandi imprese e agli
intermediari.
By GORDON FAIRCLOUGH
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
December 13, 2005
JINJU, South Korea — Han Jeong Hyeon,
a farmer who grows rice and yams on small plots nestled among the mountains of
southwest Korea, boarded a bus in this provincial city yesterday morning for
the first leg of a trip to Hong Kong — to join protests against the World
Trade Organization.
Mr. Han says he wants to raise his voice in
opposition to efforts by WTO members to open markets — including Korea’s — to
freer trade in farm goods. If trade in rice and other agricultural products
is liberalized in South Korea, he says, it will spell the end of the country’s
family-run farms.
"We won’t be able to compete," says
Mr. Han, 37 years old, his Korean marked by the heavy accent of this rural
region. "The truth is that regular people suffer because of the WTO. Only
big companies get the advantages."
European farmers and governments have taken
much of the blame for holding up progress toward a new global trade pact aimed
at striking a new balance between freer trade in agricultural products — which
will help developing countries boost exports — and freer trade in manufactured
goods and services.
But South Korea’s farmers are among the most
vociferous opponents of both the WTO and its efforts to open agriculture
markets. About 1,500 Korean farmers, organized by the Korean Peasants
League, are traveling to Hong Kong to take part in marches at this week’s
WTO meetings.
In recent months, farmers have clashed
repeatedly with riot police in South Korea. Police used water cannons to
disperse angry protestors during last month’s Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
summit in Busan, where world leaders called for a
compromise on farm subsidies and tariffs to move the trade talks forward.
At a WTO meeting in Cancun, Mexico, in
2003, a Korean farmer died after stabbing himself. Others
have committed suicide in Korea this year. Fearing violence, Hong Kong
authorities have blacklisted some Korean demonstrators and will try to keep
them from entering the city this week.
Mr. Han says he isn’t expecting any violence.
But, he says, he knows what drove his compatriot to take his life in Cancun.
"I understand why he felt that he could only express his feelings by
killing himself," Mr. Han says. "Reality for Korean farmers is
desperate."
For years, Mr. Han says, farming has been a
good way to make a living in South Korea. Last year, he says, he made about
$20,000 in profit from farming, with which he supports himself and his 68-year-old
mother, who still works on the farm. Mr. Han’s father is dead, and he is
unmarried and has no children.
But, Mr. Han says, business is getting
harder. The price Mr. Han gets for his yams has fallen more than 40% during
the past five years, largely because of cheap Chinese imports, he says.
Rice prices have been falling, too, and will drop further when Korea allows
more imports next year, he says.
"Our farms are very small scale,
they’re not very competitive. If the market is opened, it will be the end of
Korean agriculture," says Kang Do Gil, another farmer from Jinju who is
making the trip to Hong Kong to protest. "That is why I am going to Hong
Kong. That is why I will fight."
Some of the land owned by Mr. Han stretches
along the Nan River on the outskirts of Jinju. Standing in a field, Mr. Han
shoves a spade into the sandy ground, pulls out a long yam and shakes the soil
off it. On the hillside behind him, a shrine to local ancestors stands amid the
pine trees.
"Working here is different. It’s my land.
It’s my history," says Mr. Han, who says he can trace his family’s roots
in the area back 400 years.
In waging their battle, Korea’s farmers also are
going up against their own government. While Seoul may not be moving as
quickly to open its agricultural markets as the U.S. and other countries would
like, it is taking steps to lower trade barriers and angering rural voters.
"The government says it needs to put
farm goods and others in the same package so cars and semiconductors can
develop further," Mr. Han says. "They look at food as just
another product. But it’s not. They are ignoring the history and traditions of
Korea."
Mr. Han also is skeptical that freeing
trade in agricultural goods will actually help farmers in poor countries.
"Farmers do the work, but the benefits of free trade go to companies, to
traders and middlemen," Mr. Han says. "They’re the ones who get
the money. Not the producers. As long as that is true, free trade won’t help
farmers anywhere."
The way of life that Mr. Han and his fellow
protestors are trying to preserve in South Korea is already in decline, as
urbanization and industrialization pull people from the countryside.
Less than 10% of the people who live in
Mr. Han’s village are under 50 years old, he says.
Most are in their sixties and seventies. The windows of Mr. Han’s house look
out on the community senior citizens’ center. "There needs to be some
kind of social safety net so these people will survive. There’s been no
preparation."