Roh “Let’s Forget the 10 Percent Agriculture Budget Pledge”

President Roh Moo-hyun stated on November 11 that he will not be able to comply with his election pledges, saying, “After serious talks with the various cabinet ministers, I have come to the conclusion that it will be difficult for me to comply with my election pledge of setting the agriculture budget at 10 percent of the total national budget.”

At the 8th Annual Farmers’ Day Ceremony held on November 11 at the Rural Development Administration building located in Kwon-sun Gu in Su-won Shi, Kyung-ki Province, in response to a farmer’s request of setting the agriculture budget as promised during Roh’s election pledges, President Roh replied, “When I became president, I had to quickly ignore some of the election pledges in order to start working, but unfortunately I would like to erase the 10 percent pledge today.”

In addition, President Roh stated, “I had set the pledge at 10 percent because of my concern of losing the election. But after analyzing the annual national budget once I assumed the presidency, I realized that 10 percent is too large a figure due to the increase in the national budget itself.” Moreover, President Roh added, “It was useless to try to explain and persuade the various cabinet ministers of the situation using plain economic logic. Therefore, the resulting decision was to take into account the minister of Agriculture and Forestry’s argument of sticking to the pledge; however, the result did not meet the 10 percent mark.”

In response to the request for delaying the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) deal, President Roh responded, “If we had never brought up the issue of an FTA, then it would have not been a problem. But in a situation where we are trying to cooperate and participate in the international market, if we delay the deal at this time, it will prove to become a disadvantage when Korea will want to participate in other FTA’s or other diplomatic agreements in the future.” President Roh also emphasized, “In perspective with the FTA ratification, we have passed the Special Rural Area Bill, and the farmers’ debts are being steadily reduced. If we delay the FTA now, the trust that other nations have in us will break.”

President Roh said, “If we take a look at the matter through the perspective of agricultural competitiveness, there is nothing that impedes us from breaking from the traditional values and techniques of our farmers.” Moreover, President Roh added, “The problems that the Korean agricultural industry is currently suffering will not be solved by me boasting my new plans. However, I will do my best in trying to set a straight path for our agricultural industry to follow during my term in office.”

During the ceremony, when President Roh was asked to sign the “domestic rice protection” petition, President Roh humorously responded, “Doesn’t this go against the president’s policy?” and personally signed the petition.

Young-Hae Choi yhchoi65@donga.com