[Reporter’s Notebook] Where Policy Attention Runs Dry, Food Deserts Emerge

"People often cannot imagine living in a place where grocery shopping is impossible, so they don't really understand why this issue needs to be addressed. That's why I explain that if we don't solve it now, we will end up spending more on welfare budgets later. Then they understand."

This is what a researcher I met while covering the series on 'food deserts' told me. In an era when people can order fresh food on their smartphones and have it delivered to their doorstep, it is hard to picture areas where grocery shopping is difficult. He said that, despite the clear inconvenience, the hardest part is making this a social agenda. He added that the only way to do so is to translate daily inconveniences into economic losses.

However, food deserts already exist throughout South Korea. According to a survey by the National Data Agency, out of 37,563 administrative districts nationwide, 27,609 were counted as areas without a nearby grocery store. In most of these areas, major delivery apps are unavailable. Residents living in food deserts have to wait for one of the few daily buses to go grocery shopping in town, and in winter, they get by on pickled vegetables and kimchi.

Yet, this issue is not a policy priority. The daily life of food desert residents is inconvenient, but for people living in Seoul and the metropolitan area, it is not. Some local governments have established ordinances to provide support, but there are no laws or systems at the central government level. Even though access to fresh food affects quality of life and nutrition, there is a lack of cross-ministerial response, except from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.

In fact, this is not just a rural issue. Japan is already experiencing this problem in the heart of its capital. In Tokyo, original residents of newly redeveloped affluent neighborhoods are beginning to experience food deserts. This is because, as development progresses, rents rise and affordable grocery stores disappear. Seoul has not yet experienced this in earnest. That is why people think it has nothing to do with them. In cities where talk of development is constant, changes in food accessibility are inevitable. But we have neither imagined this nor prepared for it.

Food deserts are not just a simple inconvenience. Ultimately, they are an indicator of how far policy attention extends. Before terms like health disparity, care gap, or community collapse are attached, the problem is already quietly beginning.

Now, we need the imagination to envision a desert we have never visited. Society must be made to understand that deserts exist, even without numerical proof. To do this, the central government must take the lead in putting the issue on the policy table. A comprehensive response system that breaks down ministerial silos must also be established. In a country where strength comes from food and people greet each other by saying, "Make sure you eat well," this is all the more necessary.