▲ President Lee Jae Myung (Yonhap)

SEOUL, July 18 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Jae Myung has called for increasing agricultural subsidies to protect food security and ensure the livelihoods of farmers.

Lee made the remark in a post Friday on X, calling agriculture a "very important strategic industry." He was responding to a post by Agriculture Minister Song Mi-ryung that South Korea's agricultural subsidies are smaller than those in the European Union and Japan.

Song said South Korea's subsidies amounted to 5.19 million won (US$3,490) per farming household last year, while the EU's amounted to 25.8 million won in 2023 and Japan's 9.67 million won in 2024.

Lee said that financial resources are becoming sufficient for agricultural subsidy increases, as revenues from the special rural development tax have spiked due to the booming stock market. In South Korea, a special rural development tax is deducted every time shares listed on the stock market are sold.

"If we are going to protect food security and save rural regions, agriculture and farmers, we have to increase agricultural subsidies," Lee said. "As an open trading nation, it is unavoidable to open markets, but it is also important to provide support to areas sustaining damage so that there are no actual losses."

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