ARIRANG NEWS 14:00 Korea sets 513% tariff on rice imports

• published: 18 Sep 2014
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ARIRANG NEWS 14:00 It′s 2 p.m. on Thursday, September 18th here in Korea. Live from Seoul, I′m Laah Hyun-kyung The stories making headlines at this hour... Korea′s agriculture ministry sets the tariff rate for rice imports at 5-hundred-13 percent. Farmers and civic groups still resist the move. Meanwhile, the finance ministry unveils the government′s budget plan for 2015. It shows the biggest spending increase since the 2008 global financial crisis. And... the final pleas are over. Millions of Scots will head to the polls soon... to decide whether Scotland should break away from the United Kingdom. Title: Korea sets 513% tariff on rice imports It wasn′t long ago that the nation′s farmers were protesting against the government′s decision to open up the rice market starting next year. And their opposition may grow even stronger now… as the government announces it has set the tariff rate. Ji Myung-kil has our top story. The Korean government has set its tariff on rice imports at 513 percent. The agriculture ministry said the high tariff will help protect Korea′s rice industry as imported rice will be more expensive. Lawmakers from the ruling Saenuri Party also said imposing high tariffs was the only answer to help locally produced rice compete with the influx of imported rice on the market. The move comes as the country is set to liberalize its rice market from next year. The ministry said the proposed tariff rate will be submitted to the World Trade Organization before the end of this month. If the rate is confirmed by the WTO, the proposed tariff will go into effect on January 1st of 2015. However, it could be months until the process is finalized,... while the WTO assesses whether the tariff rate proposed by Korea is appropriate. Korea had been allowed to delay the opening of its rice market under a WTO quota agreement in 1993, in exchange for gradually increasing its mandatory import quota, which reached more than 400-thousand tons this year. The agreement with the WTO requires Korea to continue importing the mandatory quota even after the market is opened next year at a 5 percent tariff rate. The government decided to open its rice import market as it is keen on protecting its own production in the light of declining domestic rice consumption. However, farmers and civic groups oppose the move,... saying it will hurt their livelihoods and the local rice market. Ji Myung-kil, Arirang News. Title: Korean gov′t to raise budget spending by $19 bil. in 2015 The finance ministry has laid out its budget plan for next year. The spending is being raised by the largest amount since the onset of the 2008 global financial crisis. Ministry officials say... their expansionary policies are necessary… to pull the economy out of a low-growth trap. Our economics correspondent Hwang Ji-hye has the details. The Korean government on Thursday unveiled its biggest spending increase in seven years for 2015,... underlining its determination