President-Elect Lee Seeks Post-FTA Farming Reform

President-elect Lee Myung-bak Monday called on farmers and fishermen to upgrade themselves to effectively deal with the era of the free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States.

``The countryside should push forward making the farming industry develop into a second or third industry from its long-standing position as a first industry,'' Lee said during his meeting with leaders of 40 associations of the agricultural and fishing industries at his office in Seoul Monday.

He said his transition team is mapping out effective ways to minimize damage from an effectuation of the bilateral trade accord with Washington for farmers and fishermen.

The meeting was arranged several weeks after farming associations criticized the next President for neglecting his electoral campaign pledge for ``unveiling countermeasures against the Korea-U.S. FTA before parliamentary ratification.''

Promising compensation from expected some trillion won damages, he stressed that the coming government will take the initiative in strengthening global competitiveness of the first industry.

Lee vowed to bolster the agriculture and fisheries industries by upgrading their standard and maintaining the number of 3.5 million farmers and fishermen.

Free trade deals are an international trend that cannot be avoided, and it will eventually be beneficial to Korea, Lee added.

In a bid to pave the way for the U.S. Congress to ratify the Seoul-Washington FTA motion as early as possible, Lee's transition committee is in talks with the incumbent Roh Moo-hyun government to ``fully'' open the beef market to the U.S.