Offering surplus rice isn’t just a humanitarian emergency aid for North Korea. It’s a very practical solution to stabilize price of rice for South Korea. 

President Park will leave office having failed to use the varied and balanced tools to make significant progress on agricultural administration policy and having failed to keep her promise to raise the purchasing price for rice.  

The price of rice has plunged as a result of the market being flooded with the surplus, and farmers’ right to live has been threatened in conjunction with the nosedive of rice price as well.  

The harvesting time has come, and instead of farmers embracing the pleasure of gathering in the rice, the ever so despairing farmers are discarding what they’ve worked so hard for. It is truly disheartening to see farmers in frustration plowing up their rice field that they have put their heart and soul into, and value as their life. 

Rice consumption has been decreasing, the stock of rice has been piling up, and the price of rice has been collapsing. And of course, temporary fix from this government did not solve a single problem about this. 

We urgently need to put forth a multilateral effort into promoting rice consumption, such as finding a way to supply surplus rice to produce processed feed. Additionally, we need to be flexible in applying adjustable rice field to control overproduction, and to reduce the paddy rice output without jeopardizing the foundation of rice production. 

Besides, we must consider preemptively making good use of surplus rice. Humanitarian assistance needs to be offered to North Korea where the flood ripped through leaving thousands of children and families in urgent need of assistance. 

The stock of rice has been increasing sharply since 2008 when the rice support discontinuance initiated for North Korea. Offering surplus rice isn’t just a humanitarian emergency aid for North Korea. It’s a very practical solution to stabilize price of rice for South Korea. 

Hunger remains real and widespread in North Korea, and the recent severe flood has made the situation even worse. And, here, in South Korea, surplus rice became one of the utmost concerns. 

We insist on providing North Korea with surplus rice as humanitarian aid. It certainly will be a relief to the victims of the flood in North Korea, and a relief to the collapsed price of rice in South Korea. 

The obligation of humanitarian assistance to North Korea is expressly provided in Article 8 of the North Korea Human Rights Act enforced on September 4. Pursuant to this, we strongly call upon to resume humanitarian assistance to the people in flood-affected area in North Korea.  

September 27, 2016

The Head of DPK (Democratic Party of Korea), Choo, Mi-ae

남는 쌀의 제공은 단지 인도적 차원의 대북 구호가 아니다. 한국의 쌀 가격을 안정화 시키는 매우 실질적인 해결책이기도 하다.

농정에 있어 중요한 진전을 만들어 냈을 다양하고 균형 잡힌 정책을 써보지도 못하고, 또한 쌀 수매가를 올리겠다는 약속도 지키지 못한 채 박 대통령의 임기가 끝나게 될 것이다.  

쌀 가격은 넘쳐나는 쌀 과잉으로 곤두박질 쳤고, 농민들의 삶 또한 쌀 가격의 폭락과 함께 위협 받고 있다.      

쌀을 거두어 들이는 기쁨을 맛 보아야 할 추수철이 돌아왔지만, 현실은 절망한 농민들이 논을 갈아 엎고 있다. 농민들의 가슴과 영혼을 쏟아 붓고, 생명처럼 여기는 논을 엎는 것을 지켜보자니 너무나 가슴이 아프다.  

쌀 소비량은 줄었고, 쌀 재고량은 쌓여가고 있고, 쌀 값은 곤두박질 치고 있다. 물론, 이 정부의 미봉책은 이 문제를 전혀 해결하지 못하였다. 

우리는 남는 쌀을 가공된 사료로 이용 하는 등 즉시 쌀 소비를 촉진 시킬 수 있는 노력을 다차원적으로 강구해야 한다. 또한, 과잉생산 조절을 위해 생산 기반을 붕괴 하지 않고도 쌀 생산을 줄일 수 있는 쌀 조절 논을 탄력적으로 이용해야 한다.  

뿐만 아니라, 남는 쌀을 어떻게 효과적으로 관리 할 것인지에 대해 선제적으로 고민해야 할 것이다. 홍수가 할퀴고 지나가 수 백, 수 천명의 아이들과 가족들이 긴급 구호를 필요로 하고 있는 북한에 인도적 차원의 지원이 제공되어야 한다.

쌀 재고는 2008년 대북 쌀 지원이 중단 된 이후 급격하게 늘어났다. 북한에 남는 쌀을 제공하는 것은 인도적 차원의 긴급 구호의 수준에서 그치지 않는다. 이것은 한국의 쌀 가격을 안정화 시키는데 있어서도 매우 실질적인 해결책이기도 하다. 

북한에서 굶주림은 현실이고 광범위하다. 최근의 심각한 홍수는 이러한 상황을 더욱 악화시켰다. 그런데, 한국은 남아 도는 쌀이 가장 큰 문제 중 하나가 되었다.

우리는 남는 쌀은 인도적 차원에서 북한에 지원할 것을 강력하게 주장한다. 이것은 북한의 홍수 피해자들에게 구호가 되는 동시에, 한국의 폭락한 쌀 가격에도 도움이 될 것이 분명하다.

9월 4일 발효된 북한인권법 제8조는 북한에 대한 인도적 지원을 분명히 명시하고 있다. 우리는 이에 근거하여 북한 수해 지역 주민들에게 인도적 지원을 재개 할 것을 강력하게 촉구한다.

2016년 9월 27일

더불어민주당 당대표 추미애