One major international grain enterprise, Cargill Corporation says, “We are the flour in your bread and noodles, and the salt in your fried eggs. We are the corn in your tortillas, the chocolate for your dessert, and the sweetener in your soft drinks. We are the oil in your salad, the cow, the hog, and the chicken you eat at dinner time. Furthermore, we are the cotton you wear, and the fertilizer in your ground.” If you think about it, it would not be inappropriate by any stretch of the imagination to change their use of the word your to the word Korea in all of these remarks by Cargill Corporation; as Korea relies heavily on imported food. According to the National Assembly Research Service, Korea's self-sufficiency ratio of grain and self-sufficiency ratio of calories plummeted to 23.6 % (feed grain included) and 41.1% respectively in 2013. Moreover, the self-sufficiency ratio of rice in 2013 shows a decreasing trend of 89.2 % (provisional figure) falling from 104.6% in 2010. The self-sufficiency ratio of wheat, corn, and beans which are the recent rising consumption items, were respectively 0.5%, 1.0%, and 9.7% in 2013. By looking at these statistics, I think it is safe to say that Korea depends on   importation of food products unequivocally.

                  The OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) and FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) said, “The rise in international food prices should continuously increase food security threats to the countries which have a low degree of food self-support.” The falling food self-support degree of Korea is definitely at risk. The low self-support ratio of food means the same thing as a security threat to one’s country. If a country cannot satisfy the quantity of food needed through domestic food production, importation conditions would be decided most likely by the exporting countries' circumstances. When exporting countries do not export their food, importing countries take a hit, both socially and economically. Or if exporting countries threaten importing countries because of their vulnerability, importing countries that rely on the imports, cannot do anything but pay the exorbitant prices. History tells us the facts. In 2010, Egypt was the world's largest wheat importer. It imported 6.3 million tons annually, and 60% of the import volume was from Russia. In August of that year, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would impose a temporary ban on grain exports due to abnormally high summer temperatures and drought. The price of wheat sky-rocketed, lowering Egypt's wheat stocks and Egyptians were faced with a surging rise in the price of bread. The common chant of the pro-democracy protests in Egypt at that time was "Bread, Freedom, and Dignity." In another case, Korea had to import rice because of the damage from the cold weather in the 1980s. At that time, Cargill Corporation required Korea to pay a price that was three times the average price of rice.

                  Since the staple food of the Korea is rice, increasing the degree of rice self-support and maintaining this high degree is of the utmost importance. For this reason, when the Korean government announced lately that it would completely open its rice market from 2015, there were sharp conflicts between the government and the opposition. The decisive factor why the government chose to open the rice trade was the MMA (Minimum Market Access), which means minimum openness of a country's markets to foreign goods and services. Due to delayed tariffs, MMA has increased annually for 20 years. The government thought it would be a big burden for the domestic markets to keep rice supply and demand in balance. In 2013, MMA accumulated up to 409,000 tons, which accounted for 9% of the domestic consumption of rice in 2012. Similarly, the Philippines, which had negotiated with WTO (World Trade Organization) for two years, decided to increase MMA by 2.3 times from 350,000 tons to 805,000 tons instead of delaying the opening of the rice market by 2017. If Korea had delayed opening on equal terms with the Philippines, the MMA would have been up to 940,000 tons, accounting for 22% of the domestic rice production. If things actually do come to this stage, uncontrollable oversupply occurs and there’s a strong possibility that it will lead to the collapse of domestic rice production. This scenario was what the government thought could occur.

                  Yet, the government faced strong objections from the opposition and some farmer organizations. They argued that when the Korea-China FTA (Free Trade Agreement) and TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) were finalized, it would not be easy to keep high tariffs, which were the government's intent. Also, they said since the government solely relies on the average analyses, ignoring the practical danger of importation at lower prices than the average. They also asserted that if Korea opened up the rice market, American rice marketers, who have superior marketing skills, could drive Korean rice out of the market. Finally, if the nation drove domestic agriculture to the battlefield of trade with only a shield of tariffs, it would only be a matter of time before a collapse.

At this point, Korea should make a greater effort to increase its food self-sufficiency. The government should guarantee incomes for farmers to induce them to grow cereals. They should also strive to improve the competitiveness of Korean rice. On top of this, they should prohibit the illegal distribution of mixed domestic and imported rice. Finally, there is a need to maximize the use of local farmland, and invest in productive rice varieties and skills of cultivation.

Koreans should take a keen interest in the marketing and food production practices being utilized in their country. There needs to be a public awareness campaign educating the general population about the food crisis occurring in Korea. Citizens need to recognize that Korea has been below 30% self-sufficient in grain for more than 10 years. Even experts are insensitive to this problem, and there aren’t enough measures to stimulate change and improvements. At the Japan Economic Forum, a Ph.D. in economics, Dr. Lee Choon-kyu stressed, "Due to climate change, food crisis cycles are expected to speed up. Accordingly, a constant joint effort between government and society is needed for food security." Another alarming statistic is the fact that the cultivated acreage and rate of arable land utilization in South Korean has indeed dramatically decreased. As a result the degree of food self-support has also fallen. If Korea doesn’t change this dire situation, self-sufficiency rates of food will steadily decrease in the future. The future of Korea must not to be swayed by importer’s conditions or intent and we must strive to be independent and more self-sufficient in our food production practices. Greater self-sufficiency will satisfy our country’s needs in food, and this will provide our people and country with the best security.