"Urging Government to Fulfill Role in Agreement Between Ruling and Opposition Parties"
Park Ji-won, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea (representing Haenam, Wando, and Jindo in Jeollanam-do), announced on the 12th that he, along with 58 other members of the National Assembly, has jointly proposed a resolution urging measures to revitalize the "Rural and Fishing Village Win-Win Cooperation Fund" in celebration of "Farmers' Day."
The "Rural and Fishing Village Win-Win Cooperation Fund" is a fund established to share the benefits of implementing FTAs (Free Trade Agreements) and to compensate for damages to rural and fishing communities. Since the ratification of the Korea-China FTA in 2015, 1 trillion KRW is to be raised from the private sector over 10 years, with 100 billion KRW collected annually.
Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Park Ji-won has taken the lead in proposing the "Resolution Urging Measures to Revitalize the Rural and Fishing Village Win-Win Cooperation Fund." Photo by Park Ji-won’s office
As of August this year, only 244.9 billion KRW has been raised for the Rural and Fishing Village Win-Win Cooperation Fund, which is merely 24.5% of the target amount. During the same period, contributions to the Large and Small-Medium Enterprise Win-Win Cooperation Fund totaled 2.7406 trillion KRW.
Most of the funds raised for the Rural and Fishing Village Win-Win Cooperation Fund come from public institutions, and the fundraising method is a one-time designated corporate project rather than an accumulation type. Especially due to the nature of the foundation under the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, fundraising for the rural fund is poor compared to the Large and Small-Medium Enterprise Win-Win Cooperation Fund.
This resolution calls for the government to consider changing the fund management department to revitalize fundraising. It mainly requires the government to prepare comprehensive improvement measures and related legal revisions at the intergovernmental level and report to the National Assembly within three months.
Representative Park stated, "The National Assembly is urging the government to devise measures to encourage private companies to participate in fundraising and to use the fund efficiently. It is also demanding accountability for the 'necessary measures to cover the government's shortfall' as specified in the 2015 agreement of the ruling and opposition parties' council on the establishment of the Win-Win Cooperation Fund."
He continued, "Although the fund was planned to raise 1 trillion KRW annually for 10 years to compensate for damages to rural and fishing communities caused by FTAs, fundraising has been poor. This resolution, proposed on Farmers' Day, urges the government to fulfill its role that has been neglected for 10 years since the ruling and opposition parties' agreement."
Representative Park also emphasized, "The government must not ignore the reality of rural and fishing communities harmed by FTAs. The current jurisdiction of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups should be transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and the government should prepare a comprehensive improvement plan for fundraising and report it to the National Assembly."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
