- More than 1,000 women attended the National Congress of Peasant Women in 2023 in late August. The President of the Korean Government, Yoon Seok-yeol, has been called upon to cease the implementation of policies harmful to agriculture and farmers.
Via Campesina has collected on its website the article published by Korean Agriculture News. The chronicle contained in this source includes the conference on 23 August and the mobilizations. The event, organized by the Association of South Korean Peasant Women, was the first post-COVID-19 conference.
The president of the association, Yang Ok-heek, denounced the situation of the peasants and the unfortunate attitude of the authorities. In the words of Yang, last month they suffered heavy rains and peasant land flooded the waters. Several peasants died. Yang Ok-heek criticizes what the president did at this time: “On the newsstands I saw that the president went to Ukraine to support the war and that his wife took advantage of the journey to buy luxury things. I doubt whether that president is capable of this country.” According to the members of the association, the consolidation of the military alliance between the United States of America, South Korea and Japan has increased the risk of war in South Korea.
Yang adds that the president of South Korea ignores the demands of the peasants: “Now we have to put our lives at risk and enter the sea. I am angry with the government of Yoon Seok-yole, it does not care about the safety and lives of people, and on the contrary, it will see the Japanese plan for the release of radioactive contaminated water.”
Secondly, because they do not reach the end of the month
Korean Agriculture News has set an example to peasant Kim Mi-sun. Sow pumpkins and peppers in several greenhouses. Because of agricultural policies, price cuts cannot live on land alone. He has been a watchdog for ten years. From 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. in the morning it is dedicated to greenhouses, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. it is dedicated to surveillance and from 3 p.m. it is again attached to the land. Besides being a dual profession, he complains about the lack of right: “I cannot register as a cooperating farmer in the associations responsible for agricultural management, so I do not receive the benefits given to the baserritars.” As with Kim Mi-sun, many baserritarras women have two professions, often the latter is in the field of surveillance and, being registered as employees of the latter, they are excluded from agricultural policies.
The conference focused on three issues: the cessation of the country’s president, the conduct of food sovereignty and climate justice.
