[Economy pick] "Gimjang vegetables are 40% off"...I hear from Minister Song Mi-ryeong.

■ Host: Anchor Lee Youngsoo Kim, Anchor Lee Ha-rin
■ Starring: Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Song Mi-ryeong

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information. Please specify [YTN Economy PICK] when quoting.

[Anchor]
Recently, cabbage and radish prices have been so expensive that many people must have been worried ahead of the kimchi season. But today, the Democratic Party of Korea gathered to discuss supply and demand plans. We have come up with measures such as providing up to 40% discounts on kimchi vegetables and increasing the supply. Let's hear directly from Minister Song Mi-ryeong of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to see if it will work. Welcome. It's getting colder. It's kimchi-making season soon, and the price of cabbage was too high. How much is it now?

[Songmiriode]
on the wholesale price basis now The cabbage auction will be held in the evening. So, based on the wholesale price yesterday, it would have been about 5,200 won. Anyway, I can't remember the exact number. Last Friday, it fell to the 4,200 won range. So on Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays, it seems to settle in the 5,000 won range. That's why wholesale prices act as leading indicators for consumer prices. After a week, it will be reflected in consumer prices, so I think consumers will be able to experience it from tomorrow.

[Anchor]
I heard you went to the cabbage field several times. How's the atmosphere?

[Songmiriode]
I went to the cabbage field a lot. I went to Haenam. Haenam is the largest producer of autumn and winter cabbages in Korea. So I went to Haenam. I also went to Danyang, Chungbuk. I've been to all three places in Hongseong, Chungnam.

[Anchor]
In the meantime, the crop has been in bad shape due to the heat wave.

[Songmiriode]
is correct. Until September, it was so hot that the tropical night lasted for about 20 days. So the growth of these cabbages was not very good. But when I went to the site, thanks to our farmers' hard work in managing growth, and the temperature dropped considerably from October. So, cabbage growth is very good because these requirements are met. This is what it looks like when you go to the reserve base. Cabbage growth is good. So, even if you don't worry, I think it's okay to trust the government and farmers and wait a little bit.

[Anchor]
It should taste good too, how does it taste?

[Songmiriode]
Of course. Cabbage is also very fresh and good.

[Anchor]
And if you want to make kimchi, not only cabbages. Red pepper powder, salted shrimp, and salt are all in here. What do you think?

[Song Mi-ryeong]
It is said to contain 14 ingredients such as red pepper, garlic, onion, and green onion, to make kimchi. Can I talk to you for a second? Among the 14 ingredients, three ingredients, salted anchovies, salted shrimp, and salt are in charge of our Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. There are 11 ingredients for agricultural products. That's why November 22nd is Kimchi Day. The reason is that it has 22 effects with 11 ingredients. So, November 22nd was also established as Kimchi Day. Fortunately, other ingredients other than cabbage and radish are in good supply. So I think you can make kimchi without worrying.

[Anchor]
Kimchi Day is about a month away. But today, the Democratic Party announced that it would ease the burden of making kimchi, what measures did you take?

[Songmiriode]
This Monday, our president also asked us to thoroughly manage people's livelihoods, especially living prices. So today, the agricultural industry and the Democratic Party of Korea met together to discuss kimchi measures. The first is to make the supply smooth. From mid-November to early December, the most people make kimchi. So, in time for this period, we made a plan to supply the right amount of kimchi ingredients in a timely manner when needed. So, in the case of cabbage, the government releases about 24,000 tons of contract cultivation on a regular basis. The graphic is coming out right now. In the case of radishes, 9,100 tons are released. Compared to last year, cabbage is more than 10% more. It's more than 14% of the total. So there's something like increasing the supply. Another important thing is that the consumer price should be low. We provide discount support.

[Anchor]
It also increases supply and provides discount support.

[Songmiriode]
In cooperation with the distribution industry and the government, we offer discounts of up to 40% for agricultural products. The timing will also be important. It starts tomorrow. We will have this event for six weeks from tomorrow to December 4th. More importantly, many people need to know this information, so where and how much discount we can buy it every day.

[Anchor]
Where can I find it?

[Songmiriode]
There is also a website provided by AT. We plan to promote SNS and blogs from various angles. In addition, we will work well with consumer organizations to monitor whether the government's kimchi measures work well.

[Anchor]
You said you would support the discount supply, how much discount are you giving?

[Songmiriode]
In the case of agricultural products, it's 40%. For consumers every week, you can get weekly discounts from 10,000 won to 30,000 won per person. And in the case of marine products, the schedule is a little different, but we offer a discount of up to 50%.

[Anchor]
I think I'll have some budget, but I'm sure I have enough budget, right?

[Songmiriode]
That's how we plan to spend the budget as much as we need.

[Anchor]
I don't think the sluggish crop caused by the heat wave will be a story for a day or two. I don't think the climate will continue to be good in the future. Are there any countermeasures against this?

[Songmiriode]
Of course. We've been farming apples last year, and cabbage this year, too. The climate crisis is really near our eyes. So we are preparing countermeasures against climate change. In fact, in the beginning, it was prepared mainly by apples, but now I'm going to take a comprehensive look at each item. So the most important thing is that the cultivation site of production continues to move north. So, the first big direction is to control climate change using smart technology for new cultivation sites or smart farms. Let's make some of this. The second one is on the screen.Ma is trying to do a little bit of this, kind of developing an endogenous variety. Being able to beat the heat well and overcome diseases and pests.

[Anchor]
resistant to heat waves

[Songmiriode]
is correct. What's more important is to build up some stockpiles. If we can keep things that are produced a lot when the season is good for a long time, we're going to do this so that we can release them when supply and demand are unstable.

[Anchor]
I hope various measures will work. Let's keep asking for rice. It's a problem because the price of rice keeps falling. What does the Minister think?

[Songmiriode]
So, in fact, we announced the fastest rice harvest season measures ever on September 10th and October 15th. As you know, the reality is that rice consumption is gradually decreasing and production is not decreasing as quickly as consumption. So, when we calculated the supply and consumption this time, we found that there was about 128,000 tons left. However, the government has announced such measures by quarantining the market for 200,000 tons more than that. Therefore, our agricultural industry is also very welcoming to government policy.

[Anchor]
Stabilizing rice prices is important right now, but this is also important how we pioneer a way out of the rice industry, which is essential for food security in the future. What do you think?

[Song Mi-ryeong]
This appears to be the most important part. In fact, there is a problem with rice consumption, but in the end, securing food security is also the most important role of the government. Also, I think this is a way to secure the sustainability of our rice industry and to preserve the income of our rice farmers. So we're setting three major directions for the sustainability of the rice industry. First of all, we need to reduce the area of rice cultivation. However, there are crops that we import a lot in the reduced area, not unconditionally. Don't you have beans or wheat? Then you grow beans or wheat. There will be one direction to increase the cultivation of other items that can reduce rice and increase food security by cultivating new varieties such as powdered rice that can replace wheat. More importantly, rice has been cultivated mainly in single water, that is, in large amounts with high productivity. It's not that, but there will be diversification of varieties so that the people can eat delicious rice and eco-friendly rice, reducing the number of water and inducing them to produce delicious high-quality rice. Another important thing is to promote consumption. It's diversification of consumption. Even if you don't eat rice, you eat a lot of processed rice. a recent trend And we're exporting a lot. Exports of frozen gimbap and tteokbokki are increasing a lot.

That's why we're expanding our multi-faceted consumers. In particular, I've been very interested in traditional liquor recently. Because Japan, a neighboring country, consumes the same rice as Korea, and Japan consumes 300,000 tons of rice a year in a traditional Japanese liquor called sake. By the way, we only consume about 5,600 tons of our traditional liquor. So if we grow these markets, the rice problem continues to repeat now. The government believes that the government is left, and farmers are worried about income, but we are trying to find a more diverse way to solve this problem.

[Anchor]
I'm looking forward to a multifaceted plan. Thank you very much. They say they're offering a 40% discount on kimjang vegetables. You must go and buy discounts and prepare various measures for rice, so I hope we can come up with such measures that benefit both farmers and consumers. So far, I have been with Minister Song Mi-ryeong of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Thank you.