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

"People often cannot imagine a place where grocery shopping is impossible, so they do not understand why this issue needs to be addressed. That is why I explain that if we do not solve it now, we will end up spending more on welfare budgets in the future. Then, they understand."

This is what a researcher I met while covering the series on 'food deserts' told me. In an era where you can order fresh food on your smartphone and have it delivered to your doorstep, it is hard to picture areas where grocery shopping is difficult. The researcher said that, despite the clear inconvenience, the hardest part is making this a social agenda. That is why he added that he has to translate everyday inconvenience into economic loss to make people pay attention.

However, food deserts already exist throughout South Korea. According to a survey by the National Data Agency, out of 37,563 administrative villages nationwide, 27,609 were found to have no grocery retail stores nearby. In most of these areas, major delivery apps are unavailable. Residents living in food deserts wait for the few buses that run each day to go grocery shopping in the town center, and in winter, they often rely on pickled vegetables and kimchi for their meals.

Despite this, the issue is pushed down the list of policy priorities. The daily lives of people in food deserts are inconvenient, but those living in Seoul and the metropolitan area do not experience such discomfort. Some local governments have enacted ordinances to provide support, but there are no central government laws or systems in place. Although access to fresh food is directly linked to quality of life and nutrition, comprehensive inter-ministerial responses are lacking, 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 in newly redeveloped affluent neighborhoods have started to experience food deserts. This is because rents rise with development, and affordable grocery stores disappear. Seoul has not yet experienced this in earnest, so people tend to think it has nothing to do with them. But in a city where development is constantly discussed, changes in food access are inevitable. Still, we have neither imagined nor prepared for it.

A food desert is not simply a matter of daily inconvenience. Ultimately, it is an indicator of how far policy attention extends. Even before terms like health inequality, care gaps, and the collapse of local communities are attached, the problem is already quietly beginning.

Now, we need the imagination to picture a desert we have never visited. We must help society understand that food deserts exist, even if we cannot prove it with numbers. To do this, the central government must take the lead in putting the issue on the policy agenda. A comprehensive response system that transcends ministerial silos must also be established. Especially in a country where strength comes from food and people ask, "Are you eating well?" as a greeting, this is all the more necessary.