Nonghyup Cooperative Leaders, Farmers Urge Parliament to Drop Provisions in Farm Law Revision

  As the government moves to revise the Nonghyup Act, 500 cooperative heads and farmers gathered at the National Assembly on the 28th to voice concerns about stronger government oversight and proposed changes to how the federation chair is chosen. They called for scrapping provisions they said could undermine Nonghyup’s autonomy.

Nonghyup said 500 heads of local agricultural and livestock cooperatives and farmers from across the country held a “joint farmers’ declaration to defend Nonghyup autonomy” at the Assembly on the morning of the 28th. Earlier, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, through consultations with the ruling party, announced a reform plan centered on tighter internal controls and introducing direct elections by cooperative members for the chair of the central federation.

Participants urged lawmakers to: immediately halt what they called government-led supervision that infringes on Nonghyup autonomy; remove “poison pill” clauses they said would weaken legal stability; preserve the federation’s authority to guide and supervise subsidiaries to protect its cooperative identity; withdraw a plan to create a new, inefficient audit body; and stop attempts to change the direct election system for the federation chair.

The Emergency Committee to Defend Nonghyup Autonomy said the government’s stance had not changed since a farmers’ rally on the 21st. It argued the government is pushing revisions that include contentious items — such as changing the chair’s direct election system and establishing a Nonghyup audit committee — without sufficient discussion.

The committee also criticized the limits of regional briefings. It said briefings held on the 22nd in Daegu and on the 24th in Cheongju and Suwon included cooperative heads and farm groups, but ended without adequately collecting views from the field, leaving concerns in farming communities unresolved.

Major national farm organizations joined the event and issued a solidarity statement. “Excessive regulation and control of Nonghyup could ultimately lead to cuts in support programs for farmers and increased management burdens on farm households,” the groups said, adding that they would “respond together to the end” because the issue is directly tied to farmers’ right to make a living.

Park Kyung-sik, a co-chair of the emergency committee, said farmers had again gathered in front of the Assembly after setting aside their livelihoods because they believe losing Nonghyup autonomy would “directly lead to a crisis in agriculture.” Calling the revision “intervention, not reform,” he said institutional changes should come through sufficient discussion and public debate, not “speed-driven legislation.”

Park said the rally showed on-the-ground determination to defend Nonghyup autonomy and asked the Assembly to reflect views in a balanced way from farmers, Nonghyup members and farm groups.

The committee delivered the joint declaration it read at the event to the National Assembly.