According to Yonhap New Agency, in November 2011 South Korea’s exports of food and other agricultural products achieved a new monthly high for the year with demand from Japan and China contributing substantially to the growth.

The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries stated that South Korean exports of food and agricultural products grew 15.1 percent year-on-year for the month of November, reaching  USD654.9 million. In the first 11 months of the year, food and agricultural product exports were valued at USD6.6 billion, surpassing the total value of exports in 2010, valued at USD5.88 billion.

South Korean agriculture is rapidly transforming and adapting to reforms and increased competition brought on by successive FTAs. Agriculture will soon attract further attention as the impact of the KORUS FTA becomes clearer. With this in mind, further links to information can be found below:

Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI)

(Regularly Updated) http://www.krei.re.kr/eng/publication/periodicals.php

OECD Trade and Agriculture Directorate

OECD (2008) Evaluation of Agricultural Policy Reforms in Korea

OECD (2011) Long Term Trends in Agricultural Policy Impacts

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)

USDA (Regularly Updated) Briefing Room – South Korea

USDA (Regularly Updated) Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN)

Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) – Korea

FAO (Regularly Updated) FAO Statistics Page – Korea

Other Publications (may require subscription access)

Beghin, Burea and Park (2003), “Food security and agricultural protection in South Korea“, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 85, No. 3, August 2003.

Kirang Kim, Mi Kyung Kim, Young-Jeon Shin and Sang Sun Lee (2011), “Factors related to household food insecurity in the Republic of Korea“, Public Health Nutrition, Vol. 14, No. 6, 2011.

Hyungsuk Choo and Tazim Jamala, “Tourism on organic farms in South Korea: a new form of ecotourism“, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Vol. 17, No. 4, 2009.

John Paull (2009), “Korea rediscovers organic agriculture“, Journal of Bio-dynamics, Spring 2009.