The Korean Economy and Food Security in the Process of Trade Liberalization

During the 1980s and 1990s Korea’s economy leaped to the level of newly industrialized countries due to three low booms, such as a drop in international raw material prices, a drop in the value of the won (KRW), and a drop in international interest rates. However, this was also a period in which Korea’s agriculture was hit hard by trade liberalization. Changes in the global economic order made it impossible to avoid opening imports of agricultural products for export of industrial products. To avoid tariffication of rice, tariff importation of all other agricultural products was opened. The opening of importation of agricultural products was used as a sacrifice in active Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations. As a result, the food self-sufficiency rate declined rapidly and the country became vulnerable to food insecurity. Although the people’s food and nutritional status improved, health problems emerged due to excessive animal food consumption. The influx of Western-style eating patterns and development of food technology brought rapid development in the food industry, but food safety issues have emerged.